PIL in Madras High Court to allow people to furnish name of mother, single parent in forms, govt docs

The Madras High Court on Monday issued notice in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition calling for directions so that people are not only identified by their father's name in forms, government documents, court affidavits etc. but rather an option is given to furnish mother's name or the single parent's name as well (B Ramkumar Adityan v. Secretary, MHA and ors).A Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu asked the Central government and Tamil Nadu government authorities to file counter affidavits in four weeks time, and posted the case for hearing after six weeks.."None of the applications has an option to furnish mother’s name and none of the certificates has mother’s name which is violative of the principle of ‘Equality' enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution as it discriminates against women," it was argued. .The petitioner called for an equal status to be given to men and women in such matters. In this regard, the petition also referred to Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. .The petition filed by an advocate, B Ramkumar Adityan raised the following contentions:Women are constantly pressured to obtain their absentee husband’s signatures, even after divorce. After divorce, the children may sometimes have to change schools. Women are pressured to obtain their absentee husband’s signatures on school leaving certificates. Banks and passport authorities also remain conservative in their approach and revere the role of the father as the natural guardian. If the father is missing or has died, having his name on documents does not make any sense or serve any purpose. In the last 30 years, there has been a steady and sizable increase in the number of single-parent adoptions. There is no bar for a single mother to adopt a child. Yet, several public and private institutions insist on the father signing off as the guardian or persons identifying themselves by their father's name. This is the case with affidavits, deeds, oaths, schools, banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, licences registrations, permits, smart card applications, identity cards, orders, records, legal documents, official documents, court documents and applications. Even when the Padma awards were announced recently, only the father's name is asked for in the nomination form.While there is a option provided in the Aadhaar card application to write the mother's name, the Aadhaar cards are issued without mentioning the mother's name. Confusion in partition cases can be avoided if the names of both parents of a child are included in the records. This would indirectly help in minimising civil disputes. It is explained that remarriages are common, meaning that there may be stepmothers, stepfathers, stepchildren and step-siblings. To avoid confusion in the partition of assets, a system of writing both the father and mother's name in deeds may be adopted. This will avoid unnecessary legal disputes related to ancestral coparcenary property. The right of a child to know the identity of his or her parents is also protected. As far as changes to the general practices are concerned, it is noted that women in Maharashtra now have the option of using either the father's name or the husband's name in all official documents, while children will be able to use the mother's name as well. In Tamil Nadu, the School Education Department in 2003 permitted the use of mother’s name as initial. After the Supreme Court's direction in the case of ABC vs. The State (NCT of Delhi), the Union Home Ministry also issued a circular to all the Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths stating that no one can deny the birth registration of a child of a single parent or an unwed mother. In such cases, the name of the single parent will be written in the birth record and name of the other parent will be left blank..Reference was also made to several case laws touching upon gender equality in family matters, marriage and adoption. ."If we create a column for writing mother's name in addition to father's name wherever we use father's name alone, it is great recognisation for our mothers. We can find our female line also. And also fundamental right to privacy will be safeguarded," the petitioner contended..The High Court was approached after several representations made to both the Central government and the Tamil Nadu government failed to yield any positive response. .The petitioner made the following prayers:For the Court to direct the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the State government to direct all the Ministries/ Departments/ Offices to create a column to write the "mother's name" in addition to the "father's name" in all forms, certificates, applications, and licenses; For the Court to issue directions to make it mandatory to furnish the mother's name in addition to the father's name in all deeds, affidavits, government documents, public documents, education documents, court documents, official documents, applications, certificates and licenses; For the Court to direct the Central and State government to permit the furnishing of either parent's name in the case of single parents or unwed mothers to ensure the meaningful implementation of the Hindu Adoptions And Maintenance Act, 1956, the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the Adoption Regulations, 2017 etc. .The petition was filed through advocate G Sureshkumar. Advocate Sankar Shanmugam appeared for the petitioner today.