The Advisory Committee informed the Kerala High Court on November 26, 2025, that public appeals calling for organ donors were contrary to law.
The Advisory Committee had held a meeting on November 19, 2025, and arrived at certain decisions, the panel told a bench comprising Kerala High Court Chief Justice Nitin Madhukar Jamdar and Justice Syam Kumar V M.
The committee recommended that the publication of press releases by the Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (K-SOTTO), transplant centres, or individuals seeking altruistic organ donors should not be permitted. That is because it is contrary to the spirit of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, unethical and likely to create adverse repercussions in society.
The panel recommended that K-SOTTO may proceed with developing an online platform for individuals to express their willingness to donate organs for altruistic reasons. The identity of altruistic donors must be anonymised as much as possible.
K-SOTTO should develop a foolproof mechanism to assess the medical, physical and psychological fitness of prospective donors before they are considered for organ donation.
Timelines for processing applications for living organ transplantation have been made applicable in Kerala too. This is in accordance with the orders of the Delhi High Court and duly endorsed by National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), the panel noted.
The proceedings of the District Level Authorization Committee (DLAC) shall be transitioned to an online platform to enable digital processing of applications and to reduce processing time. This would also allow DLACs to promptly consider urgent and time-bound cases.
The petitioner had raised the issue about the requirement to submit multiple certificates before the DLAC and the difficulty in obtaining similar certificates from various government and quasi government offices. This must be addressed and a new guideline may be issued to minimise and streamline the certificate requirements, the Advisory Committee report said.
The committee has sought 15 days to finalise the report, the Special Government Pleader stated. The next hearing has been scheduled for December 12, 2025. The final report should be placed on record before that, the order said.
The court was hearing about organ donation in Kerala. The petitioner had sought direction to be issued to the authorities, particularly to circulate press releases in print and electronic media seeking willing altruistic donors among the community for and on behalf of all patients who are unable to undergo organ transplant surgery owing to unavailability of matching donors. The press release may include information such as the patient’s blood group, name of intended transplant hospital, compensation for prospective donor towards the loss of income, organ utilisation fee, financial support in case of complications and all other required information.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on December 2, 2025, to file its response on the declining population of vultures in India. The matter indicated violation of the Biodiversity Act, 2002, the tribunal said.
In addition, the NGT also asked the Director General of Forests (Wildlife); Wildlife Institute of India and the Zoological Survey of India to file their reply. The court listed the matter next for hearing on February 26, 2026.
The tribunal registered the application suo motu on the basis of a news item published in Rajasthan Patrika on November 10, 2025, about the status of vultures. The news item talked about the extinction of vultures in India.
Surveys have been carried out in several places, it read. Vulture populations have become extinct in 72 per cent of the area surveyed, it said. While comparing previous records, it was found that vultures were earlier found in 425 areas. But now, they are found only in 67 places. Vulture populations are now found mostly in Rajasthan (25 locations) and Madhya Pradesh (29 locations).
The NGT on December 2, 2025, took up the matter of the waste treatment plant of a company named Fresh Cut Organic Products Private Limited located at Ambayathode in Kerala’s Kozhikode district polluting air and water.
The court directed notices to be issued to the authorities which included the Kerala State Pollution Control Board; District Magistrate, Kozhikode; Central Pollution Control Board and MoEFCC’s, Regional Office, Bangalore. The responses have to be filed before the southern bench of the NGT.
The tribunal registered an application suo motu on the basis of a news item titled A fire that fails to die down published in The Hindu on November 7, 2025. According to the article, the factory unit processes waste from poultry to pet food. The unit has an installed capacity of 25 tonnes/day. The smell from the unit has made life miserable for people living in the area. The main river that provides drinking water is also polluted by the effluents discharged from the unit. Skin diseases, allergies have become common in the area.
The unit said it is conforming to norms. It is currently closed due to protests from locals. The district-level facilitation Committee has given clearance based on Kerala State Pollution Control Board inspections. However, there is a need to ascertain that the unit meets all norms before starting and to clean up the area as the pollution persists, the application said.