Couples who began their surrogacy process before the enactment of the surrogacy law can proceed with surrogacy despite being over the age limit set by the law, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

“We have held that if the surrogacy process has begun before the Act and they had frozen embryos or were in the process of transferring embryos to a surrogate mother — in that case, the age restriction will not apply,” a Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice KV Viswanathan said, allowing petitions filed by three couples.

If any other similarly placed couple wished to avail remedies in terms of this judgment, such a couple may approach the high court concerned to seek appropriate orders, Justice Nagarathna said, pronouncing the verdict.

Section 4(iii)(I) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act,

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