Kolkata, Aug. 31 -- A birth not registered within the prescribed period can still be recorded decades later if the statutory procedure is followed and the fact of birth is established, the Calcutta High Court has held, directing the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to register the birth of a woman born in 1977.
Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury passed the order on a petition by Rakhee Dutt, who said she was born on December 16, 1977, at Lake View Nursing Home, 16/2 Lake View Road, Kolkata. She said her birth was not registered within the prescribed period due to inadvertence.
Dutt moved the court after her April 2, 2026 representation to the KMC Municipal Commissioner and Executive Health Officer, Borough VIII, seeking registration of her birth, and a birth certificate remained pending.
The KMC said Section 13(3) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, requires a First Class Magistrate's order for registration of a birth after one year, following verification and payment of the prescribed fee. It also said the civic body had no independent power to register such a birth.
Dutt subsequently filed an affidavit affirmed before a Judicial Magistrate, First Class, at Alipore, confirming her date of birth. She produced her PAN, voter ID, Aadhaar, a birth certificate issued by Lake View Nursing Home on December 27, 1977, and her school passing certificate dated November 30, 1992.
Neither the KMC nor the state disputed the genuineness of the documents.
The court found that Dutt's identity and birth had been established through the documents and affidavit, including the contemporaneous nursing home birth certificate. It directed the concerned KMC sub-registrar to register the birth and record the name of the child under Section 14 of the Act, besides issuing an appropriate certificate.
The entire exercise has to be completed within two weeks from communication of the order.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.