Adoptive parents have the right to change the name of their adopted child in the Birth Register, supported by the provisions of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, without the need for excessive bureaucratic requirements.

JUDGMENT

1. First and Third Petitioners being the couple happen to be the adoptive parents of the Second Petitioner girl aged five years, whose name is registered as S MAHATI in the Birth Register as is evidenced by the Birth Certificate dtd. 6/12/2017 (Annexure-A). After the adoption, First Petitioner vide Representation/Affidavit (Annexure-F) dtd. 11/5/2022 requested the Second Respondent herein to describe the Second Petitioner-daughter as MAHATI S. SUBODHA. This was followed by a legal notice dtd. 2/11/2022 (Annexure-G Series) under Sec. 80 of CPC, 1908. The Second Respondent sent a reply to the effect that if the request is made in an appropriate form supported by evidentiary material, the same would be considered in accordance with law. Apparently, this appears to be a bureaucratic pattern.

2. Learned counsel appearing for the Petitioners argues that when a citizen gives a representation in the form of Affidavit or a legal notice, the Respondent - authorities have to construe the substance of that in the absence of prescribed form and a decision on merits should be taken in accordance with law and in a time bound way. This having not happened, she submits, her clients have knocked at the doors of Writ Court. Learned counsel banks upon a decision of the Apex Court in Civil appeal Nos. 6325-6326/2015 between MRS. ANKELLA LALITHA vs. SRI KONDA HANUMANTHA RAO & ANOTHER, disposed off on 28/7/2022, in support of her clients' claim for change of name of the Second Petitioner in the Birth Register.

3. Learned AGA appearing for the Respondents opposes the Writ Petition contending that the change of name in the Birth Register cannot be effected just for askance; the claimants have to produce necessary material supportive of the change desired and the reasons therefor. The entries made in the Registers of Births and Deaths have sanctity and therefore, cannot be meddled in the absence of a Court order to be obtained at the hands of the jurisdictional civil Court. So contending, he seeks dismissal of the Writ Petition.

4. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having perused the Petition papers, this Court is inclined to grant indulgence in the matter for the following reasons:

a) Petitioner Nos. 1 and 3 are the couple by marriage is prima facie demonstrated by their Marriage Registration Certificate dtd. 16/2/2021. The adoption of the Second Petitioner as their daughter is evidenced by the registered Adoption Deed dtd. 13/4/2022; in the biological family of the Second Petitioner, she was named as S. Mahati and accordingly same description occurs in the Register of Births. This pretty child is aged about five years and seeks to gain entry to the school before long. The First Petitioner has applied for the change of this child's name as "Mahati S Subodha", following the adoption.

b) Sec. 12 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 speaks of the consequences of adoption; one of them is that the child loses its umbilical card with the biological parents and becomes the child of the adoptive parents in all respects. That being the position, it is not unusual for the adoptive parents to rechristen the child. To know this, one needs no research and Court can take judicial notice of such practices obtaining in the communities, in exercise of power under Sec. 114 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. A host of reasons may be there for such a change and that need not be disclosed to the authorities in the absence of legal requirement. The submission of learned counsel for the Petitioner for a direction to record the change of name of the child draws support from the observations at para 19 in AKELLA LALITHA case supra, which reads as under:

"Before parting with this subject, to obviate any uncertainty it is reiterated that the mother being the only natural guardian of the child has the right to decide the surname of the child. She also has the right to give the child in adoption. The Court may have the power to intervene but