Nagpur: Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed two petitions filed by a doctor couple from Wardha, upholding Maharashtra govt’s 2016 notification appointing local appropriate authorities under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994.Division bench of Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Nivedita Mehta ruled while multi-member authority is required for an entire state or UT, a single officer may be appointed as appropriate authority for part of a state under Sec 17(3)(b) of PCPNDT Act.Dr Niraj and Dr Rekha Kadam had challenged notification of March 16, 2016, a criminal complaint pending before Judicial Magistrate First Class at Arvi, and sealing of sonography equipment at their hospital. They argued that respondent, Dr Mohan Sute, medical superintendent at Arvi Hospital, was not validly appointed because the law required a multi-member committee.Rejecting that argument, the court said the legislature amended only Section 17(3)(a), dealing with state-level authorities, and left Section 17(3)(b) unchanged to maintain operational flexibility. Court held that ‘when appropriate Authority is appointed for part of UT or part of the State, a single member Appropriate Authority can competently be appointed.’The case arose after an inspection of the petitioners’ Genetic and Ultrasound Clinic on Jan 18, 2022. According to prosecution, inspectors found several alleged violations, including incomplete Form-F records, missing patient signatures on consent forms, absence of a copy of the PCPNDT Act in the patient area, mismatched monthly reports and incomplete reference slips.GP Deven Chauhan submitted the law mandates strict maintenance of records, consent letters, reports and registers to prevent misuse of diagnostic technology for sex selection.“As far as search, seizure is concerned, no illegality is committed by the authority,” the bench held, adding material before them was sufficient to justify sealing the machines. The bench also refused to extend stay earlier granted on June 6, 2023. Also, the criminal case before Arvi court against the doctor couple will now proceed.
