The main legal point established in the judgment is the right of an individual to change their name for a just cause, the need for court approval, and publication in the Government Gazette for any name change. The judgment also highlighted the restrictions imposed by G.O.Ms.No.1263, dated 06.05.1961, on name changes in educational records.

JUDGMENT

Dhiraj Singh Thakur, CJ. - The petitioner states that he has completed his M.B.B.S. and is in the process of undergoing internship. He seeks to have his name changed from Ganjikunta Sreevathsav to Joharapuram Sreevathsav Reddy.

2. The petitioner states that his parents had an inter-caste marriage and that the petitioner was given his father's surname. However, on the advice of his elders, that the petitioner's marriage would be performed as per the customs that are prevalent on his maternal side, the name is required to be changed to Joharapuram Sreevathsav Reddy. An application, in this regard, it is stated, was filed with the official respondents, who required the petitioner to publish in the newspapers regarding the factum of the proposed change of name, which was done accordingly. A notice was published in two prominent newspapers. Thereafter, it is stated that the factum regarding change of the name of the petitioner was also published in the Gazette of Andhra Pradesh on 16.05.2022.

3. The petitioner stated that having changed his name officially, an application was made to the Deputy Educational Officer, Adoni, seeking his change of name in the Secondary School Certificate bearing roll No.1620125052. The said application was rejected on the ground that the said change was not permissible as per G.O.Ms.No.1263, dated 06.05.1961, which is also challenged in the present petition.

The said Government Order insofar as it pertains to the change in the name is contained in Section C and envisages as under:

'(1) No application shall be entertained by the Government or any officer of the Educational Department for the correction of the entries relating to name, father's name, caste, religion etc., in the completed Secondary School Leaving Certificate or Higher Secondary Certificates or Higher Secondary Certificates or Higher Secondary (Multipurpose) Certificates, unless it be for the correction of obviously absurd entries or clerical mistakes committed in the school or office records of the Education Department.

(2) The person affected may, however, arrange to notify at his or her own cost, any such change of name, father's name, caste or religion in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette and shall keep a copy of the notification in the concerned certificate.

(3) No correction need, however, be made in the certificates or the school records as a result of the notification referred to in rule 2 above.'

4. On a perusal of the Government Order supra, it is clear that the case of the petitioner does not fall in clause (1) of Section 'C' of the aforementioned G.O. bearing No.1263, dated 06.05.1961, as it is not the case of the petitioner that the name of the petitioner was incorrectly recorded in the school or office records in the Education Department, but clearly the name change is sought on account of the advice of his elders in the family.

5. The petitioner clearly appears to have fallen in error in assuming that on account of the publication of notice in two prominent newspapers as also the publication of his new name in the Government Gazette, it was sufficient for him to seek a mandamus against the official respondents for incorporating a change accordingly in their official/school records. In fact, clauses (2) and (3) of Section 'C' of G.O.Ms.No.1263 clearly envisage that no change would be permissible in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate unless, of course, it was on account of some clerical mistake or other obvious absurdity, that an option is given to a candidate to arrange to notify such a change of name/father's name etc., by publication in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette, if it otherwise serves the purpose of the petitioner.

6. A mere publication in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette would not, in our opinion, justify the issuance of a mandamus to the official respondents for correcting either the Secondary School Leaving Certificate issued in favour of the petitioner or their other official records. In a recent judgment of the Apex Court i