The court affirms the authority to change a child's surname under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, allowing flexibility in time constraints for such amendments.

Hearing concluded on : 01.05.2025 Judgment on : 16.05.2025 Kausik Chanda, J.:-

The child, Akash Sarkar, was born on December 8, 2010, to petitioner no. 2 and respondent no. 6 during the subsistence of their marriage. However, the marriage between petitioner no. 2 and respondent no. 6 was dissolved by a decree of divorce passed by a competent civil court on September 8, 2016. Subsequently, petitioner no. 2 entered into a second marriage with petitioner no. 1 on March 11, 2020.

2. It has been submitted that petitioner no. 2 and respondent no. 6 have been living separately since 2010, and that the child has been raised solely by petitioner no. 2 and after her remarriage, the child has been jointly cared for by petitioners no. 1 and 2.

3. It is further submitted that respondent no. 6 currently resides abroad and has no contact whatsoever with the minor child.

4. By filing the present writ petition, petitioners no. 1 and 2 jointly seek a direction upon the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to:

a. Change the surname of the minor child from "Sarkar" to "Chatterjee"; b. Replace the father’s name in the birth certificate from "Saumik Sarkar" to "Pranab Chatterjee";

c. Amend the mother’s surname from "Sarkar (Chandra)" to "Chatterjee".

5. In support of their prayer, the petitioners rely on a judgment of a coordinate bench delivered on February 29, 2024, in WPA 88 of 2023 (Arpita Chowdhury vs. Nabadwip Municipality & Anr.).

6. Significantly, respondent no. 6 is represented in the proceedings, and his learned counsel has submitted that he has no objection to the changes sought in the writ petition.

7. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation, however, opposes the requested alterations. Referring to Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, and Sections 454 and 455 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, Mr. Ghosh, learned counsel for the Corporation, contends that the registering authority lacks the competence to alter the names in the birth record.

8. Mr. Ghosh argues that these statutory provisions only authorise the Corporation to correct clerical or factual errors in the register of births or deaths. He further submits that, in cases involving adoption, the Corporation maintains a separate register linked to the original birth record upon submission of a valid adoption order from a competent court. In the absence of such an order, the Corporation does not have the authority to incorporate the changes sought through the present petition.

9. To properly consider the issue, it is necessary to examine the relevant statutory provisions of Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 and Sections 454 and 455 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980.

“15. Correction or cancellation of entry in the register of births or deaths.

If it is proved to the satisfaction of the Registrar that any entry of a birth or death in any register kept by him under this Act is erroneous in form or substance, or has been fraudulently or improperly made, he may, subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government with respect to the conditions on which and the circumstances in which such entries may be corrected or cancelled, correct the error or cancel the entry by suitable entry in the margin, without any alteration of the original entry, and shall sign the marginal entry and add thereto the date of the correction or cancellation.”

“454. Registration of name of child or of alteration of name. – (1) When the birth of any child has b