CHENNAI: Madras High Court has ordered the Authorisation Committee of the Tamil Nadu Health Department for organ transplantation to grant permission within three weeks for a college student suffering from renal issues to have kidney transplant.
Justice PT Asha passed the orders recently on the petition filed by B Shyam, of Ponneri in Tiruvallur district, pursuing third year in law graduation at a private university in Chennai.
The student has been suffering from kidney disease stage-V. Since the doctors of a private hospital in Chennai advised him to go for kidney transplant, his parents searched for a suitable donor within the family but could not find matches. However, a distant relative R Selvam, of Tada in Andhra Pradesh, came forward on his own to donate a kidney.
They both submitted an application with the Authorisation Committee on November 22, 2025 under form-II of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014 with required documents.
The committee, after perusing documents and interviewing the donor, rejected the application on January 9, 2026 on the ground that the ‘relationship not established’. Challenging this rejection order, Shyam and Selvam filed the writ petition seeking to quash the rejection order and direct grant of permission.
“In the case on hand, a perusal of the transcript of the statements made by the Donor and his wife clearly brings out that they have come forward voluntarily to donate and in their own words which is, said in unison, “That saving a life is important”. That apart the donor is not a total stranger to the recipient as the donor is the brother of the recipient’s maternal aunt’s husband,” the judge noted.
Disapproving the grounds for rejection, the judge stated that the transcript clearly shows that the donor, his wife, the recipient and his father clearly described the relationship between the parties. The Donor and his wife have also cogently given reasons for coming forward to donate the organ.
“There is no material produced on the side of the respondents to show that the donor has not come forward to donate his organ out of altruism (the fact of caring about the needs and happiness of other people more than your own). In the absence of the above, the rejection by the Authorisation Committee is arbitrary and baseless,” Justice Asha reasoned.
Further, she held that the committee has ‘overlooked’ the fact that the donor and recipient are ‘not near relatives’ and they have clearly and cogently set out how they are ‘not strangers’ but acquainted with each other through near relatives.
Setting aside the rejection order, the judge ordered the committee to grant permission within three weeks in accordance with the law.
“In case the same is not granted within the stipulated time it shall be deemed to have been granted. Upon grant of approval/ deemed approval the petitioners are entitled to undergo the transplantation,” the judge ordered.