No Requirement For Woman After Marriage To Use Name Of Husband, She’s Entitled To Use Maiden Name Showing Father’s Name: Karnataka HC

The Karnataka High Court has observed that there is no requirement for a woman after marriage to use the name of her husband and that she is entitled to use her maiden name showing her father’s name.

The Court was dealing with a writ petition filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution praying to call for records the application and quashing the endorsement of the Joint Director (Statistics).

A Single Bench of Justice Suraj Govindaraj held, “Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that at the time of giving the name of her mother for the birth certificate her married name was given. However, she goes by her maiden name namely ‘Charu Latha M’. … There is no particular requirement for a woman after marriage to use the name of her husband, she is always entitled to use her maiden name showing the name of her father.”

Advocate Suresh Ishwarappa Mugalakki represented the petitioner while AGA B.P. Radha and Advocate Pawan Kumar represented the respondents.

In this case, the first grievance of the petitioner was that the petitioner’s request for his name to be included in the birth certificate was rejected on the ground that the said application was submitted beyond the period prescribed under Sub-section (1) of Section 10 of the Karnataka Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 1999.

The other grievance of the petitioner was that the name of father and mother of the petitioner entered in the birth certificate were not in conformity with the Aadhaar Card and in that view of the matter, the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) was not going to accept the birth certificate showing the different names in that shown in the Aadhaar Card.

The High Court after considering the submissions made by the counsel for parties said, “The petitioner’s father’s name is ‘V.Vijaya Kumar’, however in the Aadhaar Card his name is shown as ‘Vijaya Kumar.V’. Essentially, I do not find any difference in the said names. However, learned AGA submits that the entry of the name in the format of the entry of the name is important since, the same was continued for all time in all record. The names essentially being one and the same, there was no embargo on the part of respondent No.3 to make such changes as requested.”

The Court added that in so far as the name of the petitioner’s mother is concerned, in the birth certificate her name is shown as ‘V.Charulatha’ whereas in the Aadhaar Card her name is shown as ‘Charu Latha M’.

“In that view of the matter, so long as necessary documents were furnished to the concerned authorities to indicate and establish the identity, the authorities would have to consider the same and make such corrections have been required and/or requested”, ordered the Court.

Accordingly, the High Court allowed the writ petition and quashed the endorsement.

Cause Title- Master Shreyas V. v. State of Karnataka & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2023:KHC:33694)

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