Today, the Supreme Court of India refused to entertain a writ petition seeking directions to make the Nucleic Acid Test (NAT) mandatory in blood banks for screening donated blood.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi noted that NAT is a costlier testing process and, as acknowledged by the petitioner itself, making it compulsory could place an additional financial burden on State governments. In view of this, the Court said it could not issue a direction mandating the test.

The Bench further observed that the issue raised in the petition concerns the introduction of a new medical technology rather than the interpretation of an existing law, and therefore does not warrant judicial intervention.

According to the Court, deciding whether NAT testing should be made mandatory involves specialised medical expertise and policy considerations, which fall outside the Court’s domain.

While declining to entertain the petition, the Court granted liberty to the petitioner to submit a representation before the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare so that the issue may be considered at the policy level.

The petition was filed by the organisation Sarvesham Mangalam Foundation. It argued that the Nucleic Acid Test is a highly sensitive molecular technique that detects the genetic material (DNA or RNA) of viruses such as HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C directly in blood samples.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that NAT testing can identify a significantly larger number of infections compared to the commonly used Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. It was also pointed out that NAT testing is currently being used only in government hospitals in Delhi.

Case: Sarvesham Mangalam Foundation v. Union of India, W.P.(C) No. 184/2026.