The Supreme Court today directed the Centre and state governments to take quick and tough action against people indulging in female foeticide and passed a slew of directions for effective implementation of PNDT Act that prohibits pre-natal sex determination.

The apex court directed the governments to map all ultra- sonography clinics within three months and asked the lower courts to dispose all cases for violation of the Act within a period of six months to bring the accused to book.

"Steps should be taken by the state government and the authorities under the Act for mapping of all registered and unregistered ultra-sonography clinics, in three months time," a bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said.

"The various courts in this country should take steps to dispose of all pending cases under the Act, within a period of six months," it said.

The bench also said that special cell be constituted by the state governments and the Union Territories to monitor the progress of various cases pending in the courts under the Act and take steps for their early disposal.

It said that more vigil and attention by the authorities is required in view of "mushrooming" of various sonography centres, genetic clinics, genetic counselling centres, genetic laboratories, ultrasonic clinics and imaging centres in almost all parts of the country.

The court passed the order on a PIL by NGO Voluntary Health Association of Punjab pleading it to interfere in the matter in view of decreasing number of girls/boys ratio in the country.

The average count of girl child (0-6 years) in the country has dropped to 914 per 1000 boys as per the Census 2011 which was earlier 927 in the 2001 Census.

The apex court said that the Central and State Supervisory Board constituted under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition on Sex-Selection) Act, would meet at least once in six months, to supervise implementation of the Act.

"The committees should report the details of the charges framed and the conviction of the persons who have committed the offence, to the state medical councils for proper action, including suspension of the registration of the unit and cancellation of licence to practice," the bench said.

It said that authorities should take steps to seize the machines which have been used illegally and contrary to the provisions of the Act and the seized machines can also be confiscated under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and be sold, in accordance with law.

Concerned over the drastic drop in girl child ratio in these states, the bench said that awareness be spread that a girl child is equally important for the society.

Writing a concurring but separate judgement, Justice Misra said that people are required to develop a scientific temper in the modern context to understand the value of a female child.

"All involved in female foeticide deliberately forget to realise that when the foetus of a girl child is destroyed, a woman of future is crucified. To put it differently, the present generation invites the sufferings on its own and also sows the seeds of suffering for the future generation, as in the ultimate eventuate, the sex ratio gets affected and leads to manifold social problems," he said.

"Abortion of a female child in its conceptual eventuality leads to killing of a woman. Law prohibits it, scriptures forbid it, philosophy condemns it, ethics deprecate it, morality decries it and social science abhors it," Justice Misra said.