Mention time limit in birth certificate for including child’s name: Karnataka High Court

Observing that a child cannot be made to suffer due to the mistake of parents in failing to include name in the birth certificate within the prescribed period, the High Court of Karnataka has directed the authorities to issue an amended birth certificate to a 23-year-old woman by inserting her name, which was left blank as her parents had not given her name when she was born.

Observing that a child cannot be made to suffer due to the mistake of parents in failing to include name in the birth certificate within the prescribed period, the High Court of Karnataka has directed the authorities to issue an amended birth certificate to a 23-year-old woman by inserting her name, which was left blank as her parents had not given her name when she was born.

Also, the court directed the Registrar of Births and Deaths, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), to incorporate the time limit prescribed under Rule 10 of the Karnataka Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 1999, for including the child’s name in the birth certificates, which are originally issued only with the child’s gender, date and place of birth, names of the parents but leaving child’s name blank.

Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued the directions while allowing a petition filed by Fathima Richelle Mather, a native of Ernakulam in Kerala and presently pursuing her postgraduate course in Spain.

She had filled an application before BBMP authorities to insert her name in the birth certificate, issued to her parents in 2000 as it did not contain her name. However, the authorities rejected her application in July 2023 stating that the period specified in the rules for inclusion of the name of the child had expired three years ago.

The authorities told the court that the rules give 12 months, after the date of registration of the birth, for inserting the name without a fine, and up to 15 years with a fine. However, as per the instructions from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs the name could be included up to 20 years. But the petitioner is not eligible for inclusion as all these periods have expired, the authorities argued.

However, the court said the petitioner was minor during most of the time period fixed for including the name and obviously was not aware of the rules. Even later there was no chance for her to know the rules as she was living in Kerala after her birth and the rules were not even indicated in the certificate issued to her parents, the court said.