The Supreme Court has directed munici pal bodies not to insist on the name of the father of a child born outside wedlock for birth certificates, which should be issued mentioning only the moth er’s name in such cases.The apex court said that in today’s society , women are increasingly choosing to raise their children alone and the law must rec ognize the reality and evolve according to the changing times.

“The law is dynamic and is expected to diligent ly keep pace with time and In the petition filed before the HC through advocate S Shanavas Khan, Rabeeha pointed out that she had already sought divorce from her husband on grounds of desertion and the case was pending before the family court at Ernakulam. She applied for passport for her the legal conundrums and enigmas it presents. There is no gainsaying that the identity of the mother is never in doubt. According ly, we direct that if a single parentunwed mother ap plies for the issuance of a birth certificate for a child born from her womb, the daughter to travel abroad as part of her employment, the petition said.

Representing the passport authorities, assistant solicitor general N Nagaresh argued that when a divorce case was pending, the consent of either the parents or a court order was required. authorities concerned may only require her to furnish an affidavit to this effect, and must thereupon issue the birth certificate, unless there is a court direction to the contrary ,“ the SC said.

The state, it said, must take steps to ensure that no citizen suffers merely because the parents fail or neglect to register the birth.“It is the duty of the state to take requisite steps for recording birth of every citizen. To remove any possible doubt, the direction pertaining to issuance of birth certificate is intendedly not restricted to circumstances or the parties before us,“ the court said.

The high court, however, held that the passport should be issued in the name of the minor child if the mother files an affidavit. The court also pointed out that though the father was made a party in the case and a notice was served on him, no one has ap peared for him.

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