Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has allowed a couple’s plea for surrogacy, setting aside an order that rejected their application under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, The New Indian Express reported.
Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka directed the State’s Appropriate Authority and the Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare to issue the Certificate of Essentiality and Eligibility required for the procedure.
The couple, married in November 2021 and residing in Medchal-Malkajgiri district, had approached the court after their application for surrogacy was rejected on August 18, 2025.
According to court records, the wife suffers from Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS), a rare chromosomal disorder in which a person has a 46 XY karyotype but develops female physical characteristics. Due to the condition, she does not have a uterus or ovaries, making natural conception impossible.
A District Medical Board had issued a Medical Indication Certificate confirming the condition and recommending surrogacy. The couple had also obtained an order from the II Additional Junior Civil Judge-cum-X Additional Metropolitan Magistrate in Kukatpally, granting parentage and custody rights for the child to be born through surrogacy.
However, the State Appropriate Authority rejected the application, citing the chromosomal profile and stating that the Act defines a couple as a legally married man and woman, where a woman generally has an XX genotype.
Challenging the decision, the petitioners argued that the rejection was arbitrary and contrary to a Union government notification issued on February 21, 2024, which permits the use of donor gametes if either spouse has a medical condition.
Allowing the writ petition, the court held that denying surrogacy solely on the basis of the petitioner’s chromosomal condition would defeat the purpose of the law, which aims to help infertile couples. The judge noted that the petitioner has female physical characteristics and that the condition was beyond her control.