Tamil Nadu Anatomy Rules, 1951
Published vide Notification G.O. Ms. No. 1466, Education and Public Health Department, dated 21st June 1962
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In exercise of the powers conferred by section 9 of the [Tamil Nadu] Anatomy Act, 1951 ([Tamil Nadu] Act XVIII of 1951), His Excellency, the Governor of [Tamil Nadu] hereby makes the following rules:- 1. These rules may be called the [Tamil Nadu] Anatomy Rules, 1951. 2. In these rules "the Act" means the [Tamil Nadu] Anatomy Act, 1951 ([Tamil Nadu] Act XVIII of 1951). 3. (1) All officers and servants of the Police, Medical and Public Health Departments, all officers and servants in the service of a local authority and all Village Officers and servants who come to know of the death of any person in any public place in an area in which he had no permanent place of residence, shall report the fact to the authorised officer with the least practicable delay. (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the responsibility for immediately reporting the fact to the authorised officer and also arranging the removal of the dead body to a teaching medical institution [or the hospital] for preservation from decay shall be that of the officer-in-charge of the police station having jurisdiction over the area or the Village Headman of the area, as the case may be. (3) If the body of such person is not claimed by any of his near relatives within a period of 24 hours, the authorised officer shall proceed to deal with the body in the manner laid down in section 4 of the Act. 4. (1) When a person dies in a hospital or a prison, the authority in-charge of such hospital or prison shall, immediately, report the fact to the nearest relative mentioned in the records of the patient or prisoner. If the said relatives does not claim the body within 24 hours, in cases where the nearest relative is a resident of the same district, or within 72 hours where he or she is resident outside the district, the dead body shall be disposed of in the manner laid down in section 4 of the Act. (2) Pending receipt of the claim, if any, in pursuance of sub-rule (1), the dead body shall be removed to the hospital, or the teaching medical institution, as the case may be, for preservation from decay. (3) If such body is not claimed within in the period specified in sub-rule (1), the authorised officer shall proceed to dispose of the body in the manner laid down in section 4 of the Act. 5. The Presidency Magistrate or the Magistrate of the First Class referred to in section 5 of the Act shall, for the purpose of deciding any doubt or dispute whether a person is or is not a near relative of the deceased for the purpose of section 4 of the Act, shall hold a summary inquiry into the matter. Such Magistrate need not record the oral evidence of witnesses, but he shall maintain a memorandum of evidence and a gist of the representations and counter-representations made in the case, on the basis of which he arrives at a decision. 6. Dead bodies which are received shall be kept temporarily in the cold storage of the mortuary until they are removed to the Anatomy Department. In the Anatomy Department, they shall be washed and preserved by means of formalin or glycerine solution. Those which are not required for immediate use shall be kept in a tank containing preservation solution. 7. Nothing contained in these rules shall apply to cases where death has taken place under suspicious circumstances and the body required for medico-legal examination. In such cases, if the police have not taken possession of it themselves, the body shall be handed over to the police. [8. All unclaimed bodies of this kind referred in section 4(4) of the Act shall be buried or cremated at the expense of the Government and the expenditure recovered from the Corporation, Municipality.or District Board concerned.]
