Karnataka High Court Asks 32-Year-Old Woman To Clarify Basis Of Challenge To 35-Year Minimum Age For Surrogacy

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday (September 15) asked a 32-year-old woman challenging the constitutional validity of the 35-year minimum age prescribed for single women seeking surrogacy to clarify the basis of her challenge.

Justice C.M. Poonacha was hearing the woman's plea seeking a direction to the authorities to issue Essentiality and Eligibility Certificates to enable her to undergo surrogacy by relaxing the age requirement under Section 2(1)(s) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021.

The provision defines an “intending woman” as an Indian woman who is a widow or divorcee between the ages of 35 and 45 years and intends to avail of surrogacy.

The petitioner has challenged the provision as arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. Through her counsel, she argued that motherhood is a fundamental right and sought that the provision be read down to permit her to undergo surrogacy despite being below 35.

During the hearing, counsel appearing for the Union Government submitted that, since the petitioner had previously undergone tumour surgery, a medical report should be placed on record indicating up to what age it would be medically possible for her to undergo surrogacy.

The counsel also suggested that an expert opinion could clarify whether the petitioner's present health condition would prevent her from producing her own gametes in the future if she were to wait until she turns 35.

Against this backdrop, the Court questioned the basis on which the petitioner sought to have the statutory age requirement read down.

The Court observed:

“Statute gives a window of 35-45 [for single widowed or divorced women]. You want it at 32... What's the reason for reading down [the provision]? Your argument appears to be why should I wait till 35…Or It is not that, medically, if you don't do it now, you won't be able to do it at 35? Is that true? Stick to an argument [out of the two].”

The petitioner's counsel conceded that, medically, she would be able to undergo surrogacy at the age of 35.

The Court then orally observed: “…You have your answer then”.

The Court has granted the respondents time to file their statement of objections and listed the matter for further hearing on October 1.

To recap, the petitioner had approached the Court on June 29, when Justice Suraj Govindaraj had issued notice to the Union of India and the State Government. The Court had then refused to grant interim relief to the 32-year-old petitioner

The Union had then argued that considering that the validity of the provisions was extensively heard by a coordinate bench, and a batch of matters are pending on identical issues, no interim relief should be granted.

Case Title: Miss Vibha Balasubramanian v. Union of India & Ors

Case No: WP 19384/2026