Kerala HC directs addition of father’s name in birth certificate of child who was born when parents were living together

The Kerala High Court has ordered the addition of father’s name in the birth certificate of a child who was born when the parents were living together.The High Court directed the inclusion of the father’s name after the parents approached the court, citing that the father’s name had been left blank in the certificate of the child.As per the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, the father’s name cannot be added at a later stage in the certificate.While considering the matter, a Bench of Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan exercised the court’s extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. This is an appropriate case where the child and the parents want the father’s name to be included in the birth certificate.The petitioners were living together when there was some misunderstanding between them, and the woman decided to be a single mother. The father’s name was thus not mentioned in the birth certificate. They subsequently got married and had a second child, whose birth certificate mentioned the names of both the parents.They approached the court after the local body authorities turned down their request to include the father’s name in the first child’s birth certificate. The child is now 14 years old.A blank space in the birth register can wound the child deeper than words, especially when the younger sibling’s name has been correctly shown, the court said and added that the absence of a legal provision does not stand in the way of the court to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction under the Constitution. The family’s plea is psychological and the child’s unspoken claim is dignity, it said, and allowed the parents’ plea. Published - June 06, 2026 07:49 pm IST