CHAPTER VIII - MISCELLANEOUS
Maintenance of records.
(1) All records, charts, forms, reports, consent letters and all other documents required to be maintained under this Act and the rules shall be preserved for a period of two years or for such period as may be prescribed:
Provided that, if any criminal or other proceedings are instituted against any Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory or Genetic Clinic, the records and all other documents of such Centre, Laboratory or Clinic shall be preserved till the final disposal of such proceedings.
(2) All such records shall, at all reasonable times, be made available for inspection to the Appropriate Authority or to any other person authorised by the Appropriate Authority in this behalf.
Power to search and seize records, -
(1) If the Appropriate Authority has reason to believe that an offence under this Act has been or is being committed at any Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory or Genetic Clinic, such Authority or any officer authorised thereof in this behalf may, subject to such rules as may be prescribed, enter and search at all reasonable times with such assistance, if any, as such authority or officer considers necessary, such Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory or Genetic Clinic and examine any record, register, document, book, pamphlet, advertisement or any other material object found therein and seize the same if such Authority or officer has reason to believe that it may furnish evidence of the commission of an office punishable under this Act.
(2) The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) relating to searches and seizures shall, so far as may be, apply to every search or seizure made under this Act.
Protection of action taken in good faith.- No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Central or the State Government or the Appropriate Authority or any officer authorised by the Central or State Government or by the Authority for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of the provisions of this Act.
Power to make rules.-
(1) The Central Government may make rules for carrying out the provisions of this Act.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for--
(i) the minimum qualifications for persons employed at a registered Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory or Genetic Clinic under clause (1) of section 3;
(ii) the form in which consent of a pregnant woman has to be obtained under section 5;
(iii) the procedure to be followed by the members of the Central Supervisory Board in the discharge of their functions under sub-section (4) of section 8;
(iv) allowances for members other than ex officio members admissible under sub-section (5) of section 9;
(v) the period intervening between any two meetings of the Advisory Committee under the proviso to sub-section (8) of section 17;
(vi) the terms and conditions subject to which a person may be appointed to the Advisory Committee and the procedure to be followed by such Committee under sub-section (9) of section 17;
(vii) the form and manner in which an application shall be made for registration and the fee payable thereof under sub-section (2) of section 18;
(viii) the facilities to be provided, equipment and other standards to be maintained by the Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory or Genetic Clinic under sub-section (5) of section 18;
(ix) the form in which a certificate of registration shall be issued under sub-section (1) of section 19;
(x) the manner in which and the period after which a certificate of registration shall be renewed and the fee payable for such renewal under sub-section (3) of section 19;
(xi) the manner in which an appeal may be preferred under section 21;
(xii) the period up to which records, charts, etc., shall be preserved under sub-section (1) of section 29;
(xiii) the manner in which the seizure of documents, records, objects, etc., shall be made and the manner in which seizure list shall be prepared and delivered to the person from whose custody such documents, records or objects were seized under sub-section (1) of section 30;
(xiv) any other matter that is required to be, or may be, prescribed.
Power to make regulations.- The Board may, with the previous sanction of the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, make regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder to provide for--
(a) the time and place of the meetings of the Board and the procedure to be followed for the transaction of business at such meetings and the number of members which shall form the quorum under sub-section (1) of section 9;
(b) the manner in which a person may be temporarily associated with the Board under sub-section (1) of section 11;
(c) the method of appointment, the conditions of service and the scales of pay and allowances of the officer and other employees of the Board appointed under section 12;
(d) generally for the efficient conduct of the affairs of the Board.
Rules and regulations to be laid before Parliament. –
Every rule and every regulation made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of Parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule or regulation or both Houses agree that the rule or regulation should not be made, the rule or regulation shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule or regulation.
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This act is an emotional and mental trauma for the radiologists booked under this act as in most cases innocent doctors are being booked and their diagnostic centres being sealed after every raid even if some trivial irregularities are found-what is worse is that criminal FIRs are filed after every raid which is beyond comprehension-ultrasound machines are sealed and handed over to police and the machines keep rotting in Police stations and FSL centres for months together-there are no ultrasound facilities in govt hospitals as there are very less radiologists in the country and PNDT act is bent upon closing whatever small ultrasound centres are there in private sector-Govt needs to think over otherwise people will think twice before making their children Radiologists.
Hi everyone . We should all be ashamed of not just the declining sex ratio but of all the atrocities that are committed on the females in our country . The injustice begins at the time of conception and is carried on at home, in offices, public places, everywhere ... If girls were not considered a burden , then people would not want to do away with them, and there would not be any need for such an act which i believe is unique to our country.
Now coming to the PCPNDT ACT, i am sure it has been made after a lot of discussion and deliberation by intellectuals and legal experts but for us doctors and sonologists , it means hours wasted in record keeping and ulcers wondering if our form filling will meet upto the expectations of the Appropriate Authority and tension headaches thinking when the next surprise inspection will be done and what shortcomings will the inspection team find in our clinics and whether our clinic will survive the inspection or wheter it will be sealed for want of a name-plate or mismatched signature or incomplete address or may be a wrong phone no.
We are all qualified professionals and we wish to abide by all the rules and regulations of this Act. It is in fact our moral duty to do all that we can to prevent this female foeticide. If whatever we are doing presently under the Act has actually helped in curtailing the declining sex ratio, then we will continue to do so with joyous heart ......
But my friends, that has not happened except in a very few places.
What the govt. needs is not an Act, but a Will....to catch the culprits and to bring them to justice.
Let the members of PNDT committees, the law enforcing officers, the various NGOs, the press people....let them discreetly ask their maids/ sweepers,other helpers....and they will find out where the prenatal sex determination is being done / who is violating the law / and where are those females going for sex selective abortion ...... Then it is upto the authorities to take action.
And please please educate the society......that is the only thing that will decrease the demand and hence dry up the supply of sex determination places.
you r doing good jos but doing cases on doctors who r not really doing sex determination on due to incomplete record.please think on those doctors after all there carrios get in risk.
yes i am agree with you but you are really doing harashment of the doctors who are not doing sex determination ,only in f-form mistakes please dont do like this this will not improve your sex ratio.remove the culprits who does sex determination
hello..this is worst act as far as doctors are concerned.No doubt it will reduce sex determination but act has certain defects needs to be cured.the punishment of three years is imposed for defects in maintaining records under PNDT act this is not justice to doctors as doctor is person and to make a error is human being then the doctor shouldnt be punished for such small thing i.e defects in filling the forms or maintaining records.The act aims at controlling the sex determination.hence punishment of three years is ok for sex determination.secondly ,the raid shouldnt be allowed without taking confidential permission from health department and after satisfaction of necessity of raid the appropriate authority should conduct the raid.The appropriate authority must have one legal expert to advise.more to write but next time friends....from :umesh A.Shinde advocate satara mo.9822637138