The main legal point established in the judgment is that the Registrar has the authority to correct the birth records of the adopted child if the adoption deed is duly registered and valid, and that the opinion of the biological father is not necessary in such circumstances.

JUDGMENT :

1. By way of the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners, being guardians of their minor son 'Devam', are seeking a direction upon the respondent authority, directing it to amend and/or correct or mention the name of petitioner no.2 in the column of "father name" in the Birth Certificate of their son, which is issued by the respondent.

2. The short facts giving rise to filing of the present petition, stated in nutshell, are as follows.

2.1 Petitioner No.1 earlier had married with one Shaileshbhai Vallabhbhai Jadvani and out of wedlock of petitioner no.1 with the said Shailesbhai, a son 'Devam' was born on 13.06.2012. Pursuant to that, on 20.06.2012, his birth was registered with the respondent authority at serial No.665 in the Register, which is maintained by the respondent authority under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (for short "the Registration Act").

2.2 Since matrimonial disputes cropped-up between the petitioner no.1 and her husband, they decided to get separated and, therefore, they had executed a Deed of Divorce on 06.04.2016 as per their prevailing customs and thereby marriage of petitioner no.1 with her husband came to be dissolved by the said deed.

2.3 The petitioner no.1 got married with petitioner no.2 at Surat. After marriage of petitioner no.2 with the petitioner no.1, the petitioner no.2 also agreed to take all responsibilities of minor son of petitioner no.1 and, therefore, he has adopted the minor son 'Devam' with consent of the family members of both the petitioners and pursuant to the said adoption, a Deed of Adoption has been executed between the parties, which came to be registered before the Office of Registrar vide Registration No.2194 on 15.03.2017.

2.4 It is the case of the petitioners that since the petitioner no.1 got married with petitioner no.2 and since petitioner no.2 has adopted minor 'Devam' by way of execution of a registered adoption deed, the petitioner no.2 becomes natural/legal guardian of minor boy and, therefore, the petitioners filed representation dated 17.07.2021 to the respondent authority to replace/ mention the name of petitioner no.2 as father in place of name of earlier husband of petitioner no.1 in the column of 'father name’ in the birth certificate issued by the respondent herein.

2.5 On 15.09.2021, the petitioners received the impugned communication from the respondent authority, whereby the application for correction, as stated above, has been refused by the respondent.

3. Learned advocate Mr.Kikani appearing for the petitioners has submitted that even otherwise and without prejudice, as per Circulars dated 15.05.2015 and 31.01.2018 issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, only registered adoption deed is mandatory and decree of adoption from the court concerned has been discontinued. It is submitted that as per provision of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 (for short "the Adoptions Act"), only registered adoption is mandatory. He has placed reliance on section 16 of the Adoptions Act in this regard. Thus, he has submitted that the appropriate orders may be passed.

3.1 In support of his submission, learned Advocate Mr.Kikani has placed reliance on the judgments in cases of Sukumar Mehta vs. District Registrar, Births And Deaths, 1993 (1) G.L.R. 93, Sejalben Mukundbhai Patel W/o Khodabhai Joitaram Patel, 2019 (3) G.L.R. 1866 and order dated 15.03.2017 passed in Special Civil Application No.7864 of 2016 (in the case of Tushar Kanaiyalal Vyas (Thru. POA) vs. State of Gujarat & Ors.)

4. In response to the above, Mr.Dave, learned advocate for the respondent authority has very candidly admitted that the impugned decision was premised on the circulars dated 12.08.2009 and 18.02.2016, which are subsequently canceled by the order dated 02.12.2021 issued by the State authority. He has submitted that as per provision of Section 9 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, the Registrar has to