Birth certificate can’t be denied when paternity is established: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has directed the BBMP to issue the birth certificate to a petitioner, pursuing her master’s in a management programme at IE University, Madrid, Spain.

Justice Suraj Govindaraj has also directed authorities to incorporate requirements of Rule 10 of the Karnataka Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 1999, in all birth certificates issued henceforth.

Petitioner Fathima Richelle Mather was born on April 28, 2000, at the Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital, Bengaluru. In the birth certificate, only the names of the parents were incorporated. The petitioner had subsequently moved to Kerala and studied at Kochi.

She had approached the BBMP to include her name in her birth certificate as a requirement for employment purposes. On July 28, 2023, the authorities refused to include the petitioner’s name, citing the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines that 15 years and the five-year extended period have elapsed.

The petitioner moved the high court and placed on record her passport, certificates issued by the CBSE with her parents’ name, and the Aadhaar card with her father’s name.

On the other hand, the BBMP argued that they are bound by the instructions issued by the MHA and also the 1999 rules.

The court observed that when the identity of the petitioner is not in dispute, the paternity is not in dispute, and the petitioner cannot be denied a birth certificate with her name on it when several other documents issued to the petitioner bear the name of her parents.

“A mistake by the parents cannot put the child at a disadvantage since it is the child who is a petitioner now and is in requirement of a birth certificate with her name on it for use in her employment. The period of 15 years prescribed under the rules also do not make any sense for the reason that in those 15 years, the child would continue to be a minor. It is only after the child becomes a major, any action could be taken by the child to incorporate his or her name in the birth certificate,” Justice Govindaraj said.

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