1940     Present: Soertsz and Keuneman JJ. 

In re DE SILVA.

161- D. C. (Inty.) Kalutara, 299. 

Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance, s. 20 (Cap. 94)-Application to rectify error in entry regarding birth-Entry wrong as at date of application. 

An order under section 20 of the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance for the rectification of an entry may be made where it is shown that the entry is wrong in relation to the facts existing at the date of the application. 

APPEAL from an order of the District Judge of Kalutara. 

J. L. M. Fernando (with him C. C. Rasa Ratnam), for the petitioner, appellant. 

Basnayake, C.C., on behalf of the Attorney-General noticed by the District Judge. 

Cur. adv. vult. 

June 26, 1940. SOERTSZ J. 

The petitioner applied to the District Judge of Kalutara under section 20 of the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance, to have the entry relating to her birth altered, by the name Engo Nona being struck out, and the name Lucy substituted in its place. Her case is that although her name was given as Engo Nona to the Registrar on the occasion of the registration of her birth, she was never called by that name, but was always known as Lucy, both at home and at school. The petitioner is a school teacher, and it is obvious that she may be gravely prejudiced by this conflict in names. Her case is not disputed, and the District Judge has found that the petitioner " has been always called Lucy by the members of her family and that by that name she was known in school". 

In this state of things one feels naturally disposed to allow an appli­cation such as this, if the law permits it. But the learned District Judge was of opinion that "for an entry to be struck off it must be

proved that such entry was wrong. It is only when an entry is wrong that a Court can rectify the Register . There is no evidence at all to show that a wrong name was given by the informant who was the father of the petitioner ". Crown Counsel adopted this position at the argument of this appeal. This point of view appears to be based on the assumption that rectification can be made under section 20 only in respect of some entry that was wrong at the time it was made. 

In my opinion, this assumption is unsound. The words of the section are " any person . who shall feel aggrieved by any such entry as in the preceding sections prescribed, shall be entitled to apply to the District Court . to cause such entry to be rectified, and the said Court shall . make such order as the justice of the case may require" . . . . 

It is clear that the name of the child is entered on the Register in accordance with section 10 of the Ordinance, and it is in respect of that entry that the petitioner says she is aggrieved. Up to this point, then her applicati