Writ court declines death certificate correction amid contradictory evidence; directs civil court remedy.

ORDER

This Writ Petition has been filed seeking a direction to the respondents to mutate the petitioner’s mother’s name Kokila in the Death Certificate of the petitioner’s father Subramani bearing Death Certificate No.D 2025-33-14137- 000033, dated 07.05.2025 based on the petitioner’s representation dated

02.02.2026.

2. Heard the learned counsel appearing on either side.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner’s parents name are Subramani and Kokila and they were blessed with four children viz., three daughters and one son, namely, the petitioner Astalakshmi, Vimala, Muthunagai and Paranthaman. He continued that the petitioner’s father died on 24.04.2025 and her mother pre-deceased her father on 02.02.2018 and she is the only legal wedded wife of her father and after her mother’s demise, her father lived separately at Vellore but during his last days, he was taken care by the petitioner and her siblings. He also submitted the documents, namely, burial ground receipt, village administrative officer’s certificate and voter ID of her mother Kokila, wherein the deceased name has been mentioned as her husband, to substantiate his stand. He contended that in the death certificate of his father dated 07.05.2025, one Maragatham name was mentioned as his wife, for which the petitioner made representations to the respondents on 03.09.2025, 12.12.2025 and 02.02.2026, however the said representations evoked no response and hence, the present Writ Petition.

4. Per contra, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents submitted that the said Maragatham had applied for the death certificate of the deceased V.C. Subramani along with necessary documents namely, Aadhaar card, Ration card, Medical Certificate indicating the cause of death of the deceased and receipt of burial ground on 30.04.2025 and based on the said documents, the death certificate was issued and hence, there is no fault on the issuance of the death certificate by the respondents and thus, prayed for dismissal of the Writ Petition.

5. On perusal of the records, it is seen that based on the documents submitted by one Maragatham, the respondents had issued the death certificate of the deceased V.C.Subramani, mentioning the said Maragatham’s name as his wife. However, the learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that one Kokila is the only legally wedded wife of the deceased and inadvertently, one Maragatham name was mentioned as his wife in the death certificate issued by the respondents dated 07.05.2025 and for substantiating his stand, he has produced the documents namely, burial ground receipt, village administrative officer certificate and voter ID of the pre-deceased Kokila. In view of the contradictory evidences of the parties, if at all, the petitioner is aggrieved by the issuance of the death certificate by the respondents dated 07.05.2025, the only remedy available to the petitioner is to approach the Competent Civil Court and merely mentioning of the name of one Maragatham, will not deprive the claim of the petitioner as well as her siblings, their rights of legal heirs of the deceased Subramani.

6. With the above observations, the Writ Petition stands dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.