The Court affirmed that a valid adoption under Hindu law does not require mandatory registration, and while biological parents' names cannot be deleted from birth certificates, adoptive parents' names must be included.

ORDER :

1. The present writ petition has been filed challenging the order passed by the second respondent herein wherein the request of the petitioner to incorporate his name and his wife's name as parents of two girl children namely T.Malarvizhi and T.Kumutha in the Birth Certificate has been rejected.

(A) Factual Matrix:

2. One Tamilselvan and Saraswathy are the parents of Ms.T.Malarvizhi and Ms.T.Kumutha. The father had passed away on 08.07.2015 and the mother had passed away on 03.05.2018. Thereafter, both the girl children were under the custody of their father's brother namely Chandrasekar and his wife Amuthavalli. Ms.T.Kumutha was born on 17.12.2005 and Ms.T.Malarvizhi was born on 01.04.2010.

3. On 11.07.2018, the paternal uncle and aunt of both girl children namely Chandrasekar and Amuthavalli had given the said girl children in adoption to the present writ petitioner namely Veeraiah and his wife Manimegalai by conducting an adoption function. An invitation was printed and a function was conducted in the presence of the relatives. The paternal uncle and aunt have given these two girl children in adoption to the petitioner and his wife. The petitioner is none other than the brother of Mrs.Saraswathy who is the biological mother of the girl children. Therefore, it is clear that the paternal uncle and aunt have given the girl children in adoption to the maternal uncle and aunt.

4. It could also be seen from the records that the writ petitioner is working as a Driver in Pudukkottai Municipal Corporation. According to him, even after 10 years of married life, they are not blessed with any children.

5. In order to record the adoption that had taken place on 11.07.2018, a registered adoption deed was executed by paternal uncle and aunt of the girl children on 13.01.2025. Even though both the girl children were given in adoption to the writ petitioner and his wife under the function that took place on 11.07.2018, the registered adoption deed refers only to the adoption of the younger child namely T.Malarvizhi. The adoption deed is restricted to the adoption of Ms.T.Malarvizhi because in the year 2025, the elder daughter Ms.T.Kumutha had already attained majority. However, on the date of performance of adoption ceremony namely on 11.07.2018, both elder and younger girl were aged about 13 and 8 respectively.

6. Based upon the adoption deed, the petitioner had approached the second respondent Municipality to issue a fresh birth certificate in favour of both the girl children incorporating the name of the adoptive parents. This application was made on 19.02.2025 and it has been rejected under the impugned order dated 28.05.2025 on the ground that when they obtained legal opinion from their counsel, they were informed that the adoption deed cannot be considered to be legally admissible document for amending the name of the parents in the birth certificate. Based upon the said findings, the request of the petitioner was rejected. Challenging the same, the present writ petition has been filed.

(B) Contentions of the counsels:

7. According to the learned counsel for the writ petitioner, both the girl children were adopted while they are 13 and 18 years old respectively by way of performing adoption ceremony on 11.07.2018 in the presence of the elders by distribution of invitation. According to him, the registration of adoption is not mandatory under the laws applicable to the petitioner as well as the adopted children. According to him, he is employed in the third respondent Corporation and he wants to i