CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ruled that a mother need not undergo a DNA test to donate her kidney to her son suffering from chronic kidney disease, and directed authorities to permit the transplant procedure.
Directing the authorisation committee of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research to permit a mother to donate one of her kidneys to her son, Justice GR Swaminathan remarked that when the donor herself stated that the recipient was her son, it was unable to understand why her request had been ignored.
In their petition, the mother Rita Chaurasia and her son Rohit Kumar Chaurasia stated that the son was suffering from systemic hypertension chronic kidney disease stage-V and had been on haemodialysis for the past 11 months, undergoing the procedure thrice a week. He had been advised by the nephrologist to undergo kidney transplantation.
However, the authorisation committee refused to approve the transplant, alleging that the relationship between the donor and the recipient had not been established.
It was argued that the authorisation order had been passed in a mechanical manner without appreciating the documents filed and was therefore arbitrary.
The parties also argued that the order did not provide any appropriate reason or specify any further requirement for approving the request. It was thus contended that the order violated the principles of natural justice.
After hearing both sides, the court observed that when the donor claimed that the patient was none other than her own biological son, it was unable to understand why the request of the petitioners had been casually ignored.
The court noted that the parties had produced the birth certificate of the son, along with the Aadhaar and PAN cards, which showed that his mother was the wife of Ratan Lal Chaurasia and that Rohit Kumar Chaurasia was shown as the son of Ratan Lal Chaurasia.
"Applying the principle of preponderance of probabilities, I am satisfied that Rohit is none other than the biological son of Rita Chaurasia. Therefore, the mother should not be called upon to undergo a DNA test to prove maternity, " the court said.
The court thus directed the authorisation committee to permit the mother to donate her kidney to her son and added that the entire exercise should be completed without any delay so that the necessary procedures for kidney transplantation could be carried out. The court also directed the additional government pleader to inform the authorisation committee about the order.