The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to issue travel documents to a German couple’s twins who were born to a surrogate mother in Gujarat.

The documents would enable the children to return to Germany along with the couple.

A Bench headed by Justice G. S. Singhvi, however, restrained the Union of India from issuing Indian passports to the twins after the government claimed it would amount to granting them citizenship of this country.

The direction was passed on the plea of Union of India challenging the Gujarat High Court judgment that had directed them to issue passports in the name of the twins. The court asked the German couple to approach their embassy for the visa.

It said if the couple were unsuccessful, as the German law does not recognise surrogacy, they were free to submit before the SC on December 15, the next date of hearing in the matter.

Jan Balaz and his wife had moved the Gujarat High Court and sought issuance of Indian passports for their children to facilitate their entry to Germany. The couple had contended that Germany did not permit surrogacy and that would be a hurdle for their children to live there as citizens.

The couple, in their application for passports, had mentioned the surrogate mother's name as the twins' biological mother.