ORDER

1. This writ petition has been filed by an NGO making a grievance that registration of births in India is at a low level and that very few children are provided with birth certificates and that the provisions of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (hereinafter referred to as "the 1969 Act") are not being implemented.

2. Under Section 3 of the 1969 Act, the Central Government is required to appoint a Registrar General and such other officers to coordinate and unify the activities of the Chief Registrars of the States and submit an annual report to the Central Government on the working of the 1969 Act.

3. The main grievance of the writ petitioner is that relevant provisions of the 1969 Act are not being implemented.

4. Today, when the matter came up for hearing, the learned counsel, appearing on both sides, submitted before us by consent Minutes of the Order. The said Minutes are taken on record and marked ‘x’.

5. In terms of the said Minutes we direct the States/Union Territories to appoint full-time Chief Registrars. That the States/Union Territories will submit their reports annually, as required under the provisions of the 1969 Act. That the States/Union Territories are directed to notify all panchayats and institutional delivery centres such as hospitals, nursing homes, CHCs, PHCs and others as local registration centres under Section 7(1) of the Act. That all the States/Union Territories are directed to notify ASHAs, aanganwadi workers, dai’s and headmasters of government schools under Section 10 of the 1969 Act. That the States/Union Territories are directed to switch over to the uniform format for birth certificates, as suggested by the Registrar General with national emblem on the said certificates.

6. The above directions have been given in terms of the consent Minutes of the Order.

7. Accordingly, the writ petition stands disposed of in terms of the consent Minutes of the Order.

MINUTES OF THE ORDER

Background

8. This petition has been filed by an NGO making a grievance that the registration of births in India is at a low level and that very few children are provided with birth certificates and this is due to the poor implementation of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969. Notice was issued on 6-2-2009. Thereafter the Registrar General of India and the petitioners had a productive meeting in which the critical issues were discussed at length.

9. India is signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 which states in Article 7 that “the child shall be registered immediately after birth”. Similarly, the National Population Policy, 2000 has set a goal of achieving 100% registration of births by 2010.

The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969

10. The statute was enacted and came into force on 31-5-1969. Under Section 3 the Central Government is required to appoint the Registrar General, India and such other officers under his superintendence. The Registrar General is also required to coordinate and unify the activities of the Chief Registrars of the States and submit an annual report to the Central Government on the working of the Act. The relevant sections for the purpose of this petition are set out hereafter.

11. Under Section 4, the State Governments are required to appoint Chief Registrars for the State and other officers who will work under the superintendence of the Chief Registrar. Under Sections 6 and 7, the State Government may appoint a District Registrar and Registrars for local areas respectively such as a municipality, panchayat or other local authority. Sections 8 to 10 describe the persons who are duty-bound to provide information to the Registrar regarding births and deaths.

12. Section 11 requires a register to be maintained in which entries are made. Section 12 provides for an extract of prescribed particulars from the register relating to birth or death (commonly referred to as the birth certificate) to be given free of charge to the informant if the information