Names of persons/ places, surnames and the law: India
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Change of name
Can be considered before declaration of result
HC junks minors plea to change name in his school records, January 29, 2017: The Times of India
The Delhi High Court has turned down the plea of a minor student seeking a direction to CBSE to change his name in all the records maintained by the Board and issue a fresh mark-sheet and certificate of Class-X examination which he had passed in 2015.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal has observed that as per the amended Bye-Law 69.1(i) of June 25, 2015, a request for change in the name can be considered only where the change has been admitted by the court of law and notified in the government gazette before the declaration of the result of the candidate. "...Since the change of the students name was carried out after declaration of the result on May 28, 2015 his request for change of name in the school records and certificates was rejected in terms of the amended Rule 69.1(i) (changes and corrections in name)," it said.
The bench was of the opinion that having failed to challenge the vires of the amended Rule, it was not open to him to contend that amended Rule, which disentitled candidates to seek correction or change in the name within ten years, is arbitrary and illegal.
The courts order came on the plea of the student who appealed against the single judges December 2016 order, which had also refused to direct the authorities to change his name. The boy appeared for Class-X Board Examination (All-India Secondary School Examination) conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education in March 2015, and the result was declared on May 28, 2015.
Thereafter, he got his name changed and a public notice was issued to that effect in the newspapers in June 2015 along with a notification in the Gazette of India on December 5, 2015.
On the basis of the same, he made an application before CBSE seeking change of his name in the school certificates/ records.
However, on February 3, 2016, CBSE had informed him that the request for change of name had not been allowed by the competent authority in view of Rule 69.1(i) of the Examination Bye-laws duly notified on June 25, 2015.
Aggrieved by the same, the student challenged CBSEs decision before the single judge. PTI PPS ABA HMP ARC DV
Names of places
Individuals do not have legal right to challenge nomenclatures of places
Dhananjay Mahapatra, July 22, 2021: The Times of India
Going beyond the Shakespearean “what’s there in a name”, the SC rebuked a citizen for approaching the court to seek change of name of a Nagar Panchayat in UP and said individuals do not have a legal right to challenge the nomenclature of a village, panchayat or a district, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra. The petitioner Rejendra Kumar Mishra was peeved by the UP government notification naming the governance body as Achalganj Nagar Panchayat to serve a cluster of villages. He had argued that it should be changed to Harha Nagar Panchayat as Harha was the most populous village under the ambit of the body. A bench of CJI N V Ramana, and Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy asked, “What is your legal right in this regard?” Finding the response unsatisfactory, the bench dismissed the petition.
