Delimitation based on population disadvantageous for South India: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday remarked that the issue with delimitation of electoral constituencies based on population would be that South India, which has controlled its population growth, could stand to lose out in the parliament.

The population of Southern India is decreasing even as families in the North continue to expand, the Court remarked.

A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma made the remarks while hearing the pleas of some parents seeking the right to take recourse to surrogacy after fertility treatment failed. 

Justice Nagarathna noted that in one case, the parents had a child normally and they were exploring options for the second. 

“We can understand one child. But now first child normally and then now this through In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)? See South (India), family sizes are reducing. That is what the issue is with delimitation. The population of the south will decrease now... With North expanding their families,” Justice Nagarathna remarked. 

Meanwhile, the lawyer appearing for the petitioners said that while there is no restriction on IVF, there is a restriction on surrogacy.

However, the Court said that surrogacy has become a fashion after movies. 

“Article 21 is also subject to reasonable restrictions. After all these film people, this has become fashion! Everyone wants to be one now,” said Justice Nagarathna. 

Ultimately, the Bench listed the case for further hearing on July 22.