1. Short title, application and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Transplantation of
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[Human Organs and Tissues] Act, 1994.
(2) It applies, in the first instance, to the whole of the States of Goa, Himachal Pradesh and
Maharashtra and to all the Union territories and it shall also apply to such other State which adopts this
Act by resolution passed in that behalf under clause (1) of article 252 of the Constitution.
(3) It shall come into force in the States of Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra and in all the
Union territories on such date4
as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint and in any
other State which adopts this Act under clause (1) of article 252 of the Constitution, on the date of such
adoption; and any reference in this Act to the commencement of this Act shall, in relation to any State
or Union territory, means the date on which this Act comes into force in such State or Union territory.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “advertisement” includes any form of advertising whether to the public generally or to
any section of the public or, individually to selected persons;
(b) “Appropriate Authority” means the Appropriate Authority appointed under section 13;
(c) “Authorisation Committee” means the committee constituted under clause (a) or clause (b) of
sub-section (4) of section 9;
(d) “brain-stem death” means the stage at which all functions of the brain-stem have
permanently and irreversibly ceased and is so certified under sub-section (6) of section 3;
(e) “deceased person” means a person in whom permanent disappearance of all evidence of life
occurs, by reason of brain-stem death or in a cardio-pulmonary sense, at any time after live birth
has taken place;
1. Subs. by Act 16 of 2011, s. 2, for “human organs for therapeutic purposes and for the prevention of commercial dealings in
human organs” (w.e.f. 10-1-2014).
2. Subs. by s. 4, ibid., for “human organs” (w.e.f. 10-1-2014).
3. Subs. by s. 3, ibid., for “Human Organs” (w.e.f. 10-1-2014).
4. 4th February, 1995, vide Notification No. S.O. 80(E), dated the 4th February, 1995, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II,
sec.3(ii).
Extended to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh by Act 34 of 2019, s. 95 and the Fifth
Schedule (w.e.f. 31-10-2019).
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(f) “donor” means any person, not less than eighteen years of age, who voluntarily authorises the
removal of any of his human organs for therapeutic purposes under sub-section (1) or
sub-section (2) of section 3;
(g) “hospital” includes a nursing home, clinic, medical centre, medical or teaching institution
for therapeutic purposes and other like institution;
(h) “human organ” means any part of a human body consisting of a structured arrangement of
tissues which, if wholly, removed, cannot be replicated by the body;
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[(ha) “Human Organ Retrieval Centre” means a hospital,—
(i) which has adequate facilities for treating seriously ill patients who can be potential
donours of organs in the event of death; and
(ii) which is registered under sub-section (1) of section 14 for retrieval of human organs;
(hb) “minor” means a person who has not completed the age of eighteen years;]
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[(i) “near relative” means spouse, son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister, grandfather,
grandmother, grandson or granddaughter;]
(j) “notification” means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(k) “payment” means payment in money or money’s worth but does not include any payment
for defraying or reimbursing—
(i) the cost of removing, transporting or preserving the 3
[human organ or tissue or both] to be
supplied; or
(ii) any expenses or loss of earnings incurred by a person so far as reasonably and directly
attributable to his supplying any human organ from his body;
(l) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(m) “recipient” means a person into whom any 3
[human organ or tissue or both] is, or is
proposed to be, transplanted;
(n) “registered medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner who possesses any
recognised medical qualification as defined in clause (h) of section 2 of the Indian Medical
Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956), and who is enrolled on a State Medical Register as defined in
clause (k) of that section;
(o) “therapeutic purposes” means systematic treatment of any disease or the measures to
improve health according to any particular method or modality; 4
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[(oa) “tissue” means a group of cells, except blood, performing a particular function in the
human body;
(ob) “Tissue Bank” means a facility registered under section 14A for carrying out any activity
relating to the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage and distribution of tissues, but does not
to include a Blood Bank;]
(p) “transplantation” means the grafting of any human organ from any living person or
deceased person to some other living person for therapeutic purposes;
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[(q) “transplant co-ordinator” means a person appointed by the hospital for co-ordinating all
matters relating to removal or transplantation of human organs or tissues or both and for assisting the
authority for removal of human organs in accordance with the provisions of sections 3.]