CPI(M) politbureau member Brinda Karat has raised concerns over the suspension of certain provisions under the PCPNDT Act due to the coronavirus crisis and said that they could be misused for conducting illegal sex determination tests freely.
In a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Karat said genetic counselling centres, genetic laboratories, genetic and ultrasound clinics and imaging centres which are covered under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act are considered essential services and will continue to operate despite the lockdown. So, suspension of certain rules under the act could lead to large scale violations.
In a Gazette notification dated April 4, the ministry of health and family welfare suspended certain rules of the PCPNDT Act and said that it was done due to the "unprecedented situation created by COVID-19" and will remain valid till June 30.
Karat said medical facilities have been exempted under the essential services declared by the government.
It stands to reason that if the clinic is open and conducting tests and is duty bound to keep a record of such tests as mandated by the PCPNDT law and thus, suspending a rule that mandates that they keep records of such tests could lead to illegal procedures being conducted, she said.
"If the government had assessed that for the month of March it would not be possible for clinics conducting tests to send the reports by April 5th, and had issued an administrative order condoning the delay it would be understandable," she said.
"However, suspending the rule itself means that the clinic need not produce any records till June 30th. This could be misused by unscrupulous sections to conduct sex determination tests freely."
"You will appreciate my concern that the suspension of the Rule may lead to sabotage of the law under the guise of the situation created by COVID-19," she said in the letter urging the minister to look into the suspension of Clause 9(8) in the rules of the act which mandates that the organisation should keep records of all tests and procedures conducted by it.
She also questioned why the suspension of these rules is till June 30 when the lockdown period ends on April 15.
The other two rules which have been suspended pertain to registration of the clinic and registration and meetings of the advisory council and other authorities.
Karat asked when all meetings of professional bodies are being held through the use of technology, why should the authorities under the PCPNDT Act come in for special consideration to exempt such meetings?
"Why should checks of clinics before re-registration be suspended till June 30? Obviously in a period of lockdown such verification may not be possible, but once the lockdown is lifted as scheduled on April 14th, why should procedures for registration be waived?" she asked.
"There was no urgent reason to suspend the rules. No other rules under any other act have been so suspended. It is questionable whether the ministry has the powers to arbitrarily suspend rules placed before parliament," she said demanding the withdrawal of the suspension of rules.
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