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Madras High Court on Monday issued notice to Union and State Government to file counter affidavit against a plea that sought directions to create a column to write the "mother's name" in addition to the "father's name" in all official forms and documents so that individuals are not identified by their father alone.

The matter was heard before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu.

Bench asked the concerned authorities of Central Government and Tamil Nadu State Government to file their counter-affidavits in four weeks’ time.

The petitioner, an advocate by profession Mr. B. Ramkumar Adityan knocked on the court’s door raising this issue following several representations before the Union and State Governments that yielded no result.

In his plea, the petitioner has highlighted that it is violative of the principle of ‘Equality' enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution that none of the official applications has a column for mother’s name and none of the government certificates has mother’s name.

The petitioner contended that this practice is discrimination against women. Referring to Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he asked for an equal status to be given to men and women in such matters. 

It has been further submitted by the petitioner that in the last 30 years, there has been a steady and sizable increase in the number of single-parent adoptions also there is no bar for a single mother to adopt a child. However, several public and private institutions insist on the father signing off as the guardian or persons identifying themselves by their father's name, he has added.

He has stated that the issue is same with the affidavits, deeds, oaths, schools, banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, licenses, registrations, permits, smart card applications, identity cards, orders, records, legal documents, official documents, court documents, and applications.

He has also pointed out that even in the nomination form for the awards such as Padma Award, only the father's name is asked for. He highlighted that though there is an option in the application for Aadhaar Card to write the mother’s name, the issued Aadhaar Card only bears the father’s name.

He has averred as the remarriages are common,there may be stepmothers, stepfathers, stepchildren and step-siblings, therefore, to avoid confusion in partition cases, names of both the parents should be mentioned on the documents on record, which would also indirectly help in minimizing civil disputes.

He has said that in this way, the right of a child to know the identity of his or her parents may also remain protected.

Referring to an array of case laws, the petitioner has also contended that if a column is created for writing mother's name in addition to father's name wherever father's name alone is being used, it will be a great recognition for the mothers.

He added 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 are able to use the mother's name as well, and in Tamil Nadu, the School Education Department in 2003 has permitted the use of mother’s name as initial.

He also highlighted that after Apex Court's direction in the case of ABC vs. The State (NCT of Delhi), the Union Home Ministry has 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 as in such cases, the name of the single parent will be written in the birth record leaving the other column for other parent’s name blank.

The petitioner contended that women are constantly being pressured to obtain their absentee husband’s signatures, even after divorce, if their children need to change their schools. If the father is missing or has died, having his name on documents does not make any sense or serve any purpose, he has averred.

Therefore, he urged 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 and 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.

The matter will now be next heard after six weeks.

Case Title: B Ramkumar Adityan v. Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and ors