P.G. Joseph vs The Registrar of Births and Deaths (Secretary)

C.T. Ravikumar, J.—The petitioner who is a sexagenarian seeks correction of his date of birth in the register of births and deaths maintained by the respondent. It is the contention of the petitioner that his date of birth is 14.12.1949 and it is recorded as such in all the relevant records except in the birth certificate. The petitioner is intending to go abroad and for the said purpose, he seeks for correction of his date of birth in the register maintained by the respondent in accordance with the provisions under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (for short the ''Act''). The petitioner has approached the respondent with such a prayer through Ext. P2 application as in case of any inconsistency in the date of birth in the said register with the other documents, permanent VISA would not be issued to him. Ext. P2 is accompanied by Ext. P3 affidavit. All the relevant records such as SSLC Certificate (Ext. P4), Baptism Certificate (Ext. P5), Marriage Certificate (Ext. P6), Driving License (Ext. P7), Pan Card (Ext. P8), Identity Card (Ext. P9) were produced along with Ext. P2 application. However, the respondent has refused to effect the said correction and that fact was intimated to the petitioner as per Ext. P11. This writ petition has been filed in the said circumstances seeking quashment of Ext. P11 order and to issue a writ of mandamus commanding the respondent to correct the date of birth of the petitioner entered in the birth register as 14.12.1949 instead of 12.12.1949. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned standing counsel appearing for the respondent. Evidently, the contention of the respondent is that it is impermissible to effect any correction in the birth register. The said contention cannot be sustained in the light of the provisions u/s 15 of the Act. It reads thus:-

Correction or cancellation of entry in the register of births and deaths. If it is proved to the satisfaction of the Registrar that any entry of a birth or death in any register kept by him under this Act is erroneous in form or substance, or has been fraudulently or improperly made, he may, subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government with respect to the conditions on which and the circumstances in which such entries may be corrected or cancelled, correct the error or cancel the entry by suitable entry in the margin, without any alteration of the original entry, and shall sign the marginal entry and add thereto the date of correction or cancellation.

To contend that the respondent is having the power to effect such correction in terms of the provisions u/s 15 of the Act, the petitioner relies on the decisions of this Court in Registrar of Births and Deaths and Others v. K.D. Pathrose and Others (2007 (1) KHC 971) and The Chalakkudy Municipality and Another Vs. Malavika and Another, In the light of the provisions u/s 15 of the Act and the aforesaid decisions referred above, I have no hesitation to hold that the respondent is clothed with the power to effect correction in the date of birth of the petitioner subject to his satisfaction that it was entered erroneously as 12.12.1949 instead of 14.12.1949. Evidently, the respondent has not looked into the documents produced by the petitioner and refused to effect correction solely by holding that the respondent is not having the power to effect such correction. In view of the finding that the respondent is having competency to effect correction of date of birth of the petitioner by virtue of section 15 of the Act, I am inclined to dispose of this writ petition with a direction to the respondent to consider Ext. P2 application submitted by the petitioner and pass appropriate orders thereon expeditiously, at any rate, within a period of one week from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment. While considering Ext. P2 application, the respondent shall also look into the documents accompanying the said application.

Ordered accordingly.