The ministry has clearly been told by legal experts that its directive to appoint district collectors would be null and void unless the Act has been amended by Parliament.

A circular had been issued to all states on February 12, 2007, under Section 17 (2) of the PC-PNDT Act 1994, amended in 2002, that the district magistrate would be appointed as the appropriate authority to look into the problem of pre-natal sex determination leading to female foeticide.

While certain states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan and others have started implementing the directive by issuing their own departmental circulars, activists like Dr Sabu George, member Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes and one of the key petitioners in the Supreme Court asking for the implementation of the existing legislation banning pre-natal sex selection, told The Indian Express that this order would undermine the implementation of the Act.

Even as several states are yet to implement this directive, activists feel it will create confusion and wants to buy time before evidence can be produced against doctors indulging in sex-determination practices.

According to a Supreme Court lawyer, the Ministry has sought advice on the issue. The lawyer pointed out that the directive cannot be binding or the proposed amendment cannot come into force until it has been made into a law.

According to an estimate, around three lakh female foetuses were aborted in 2001. "These figures may soon become a million if we keep dilly-dallying the issue of who is the correct authority to implement the Act," cautions George.

States with high female foeticide rate are Haryana, Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat.

Haryana tops the list with 861 females per 1000 males, as per the 2001 Census. In 1991, the ratio was 865 females per 1000 males.

In Punjab, the ratio was 882 females per 1000 males in 1991. 2001 Census put the ratio at 874 females per 1000 males. When contacted, P P Doke, Director of Health Services, Maharashtra said that besides ignorance among the public about the ‘appropriate authority’ under the law prohibiting sex selection of the foetus, it is also difficult for a civil surgeon to slap a case against a fellow doctor.

According to Maharashtra Appropriate Authority, also in charge of the Family Welfare Bureau, D S Dakhure, there are a total of 7,026 sonography centres in the state and in the last five-six years, action has been taken against 92 doctors.