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Form No.J(2)

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION

APPELLATE SIDE

Present :

The Hon’ble Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury

WPA 3347 of 2026

Dt. Nabanita Banerjee

versus

The Serampore Municipality & ors.

For the petitioner : Mr. Sudipta Dasgupta, Adv.

Mr. S. Sutradhar, Adv.

Mr. Baibhav Roy, Adv.

For the Municipality : Mr. Goutam Lahiri, Adv.

For the respondent No. 4: Mr. Anath Nath Naskar, Adv.

Mr. Arindam Shit, Adv.

Heard on : 13.05.2026

Judgment on : 13.05.2026

Raja Basu Chowdhury, J (Oral):

1. The present writ petition has been filed, inter alia, praying for a

direction upon the concerned respondent to alter the surname of the

minor child of the petitioner from “Adhikary” to “Banerjee” in birth

certificate bearing registration No. WB_BR_2011/20036/1/6750. It

is the petitioner’s case that she was married to one Santu Adhikary,

the respondent No. 4 herein on 11^th February, 2008 as per Hindu

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WPA 3347 of 2026

Rites and Customs and out of the wedlock, she had given birth to a

male child on 19^th October, 2011 at United Nursing Home Pvt. Ltd.,

Serampore Hooghly. The factum of the petitioner giving birth to a

male child on 19^th October, 2011 would corroborate from the

certificate issued by the concerned nursing home. Following the

aforesaid, a birth certificate was issued by the Serampore

Municipality in Form 5 and as per Rule 9 of the Registration of

Births and Deaths Rules, 2000. The petitioner’s case proceeds on

the premise that there was a marital discord between the petitioner

and her husband which ultimately led to a separation and thereafter

a decree for divorce on consent was passed by the Court of Learned

Additional District Judge, 1st Court, Serampore, Hooghly in MAT suit

No. 454 of 2015 vide judgment and order dated 1^st December, 2015.

Though, the petitioner claims in the petition that it was decided

mutually by the petitioner and the respondent No. 4 that the

custody of the minor child will remain with the petitioner, there is no

document to support the same. According to the petitioner, the

minor child has since been residing with the petitioner and is now

14 years old. The respondent No. 4 has never claimed the custody

nor has discharged any parental responsibility. The petitioner would

submit that the surname of the minor child has been recorded in the

Aadhaar card, PAN card(Minor), School records, Bank passbook and

Ration card as “Banerjee”. However, the birth certificate of the

petitioner continues to record the surname as “Adhikary”. The

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WPA 3347 of 2026

aforesaid has created an anomalous situation. The minor child who

is presently studying in 8^th standard in a School affiliated to the

Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations would soon

be required to undergo registration process for participating in the

Secondary Board examination, hence, there is a necessity to seek

alteration of the birth records as in absence thereof, the registration

of the petitioner’s minor son cannot be carried out having regard to

the anomalous situation noted hereinabove.

2. The respondent No. 4 is represented. The advocate representing him

would submit that he has no objection to this alteration. He would

submit that the respondent no.4’s name is Santu Adhikary and not

Santanu Adhikary as recorded in the cause title of the present writ

petition. He would submit that he has already filed vakalatnama and

is authorized to represent Santu Adhikary, the biological father of

the minor child of the petitioner. According to the learned advocate

for the respondent No. 4, the said respondent does not have any

objection if the surname of the minor child is altered in birth

certificate from “Adhikary” to “Banerjee”.

3. The municipality is represented and would submit that during

pendency of the writ petition, the municipality has passed an order

observing that municipality also has no objection in principle

regarding the change of surname of the minor son of the petitioner

from “Adhikary” to “Banerjee” and has accordingly directed the

petitioner to submit a