HC directive to CBSE

The Kerala High Court has directed the CBSE to consider the plea for providing an additional column in the registration form of Classes IX and XI for writing the expansion of initials of students/ father/ mother/ guardians in the same manner as it is provided in passports or school leaving certificates.

The directive was passed on a writ petition by Harish P.A. of Kochi. According to him, the CBSE in a circular had instructed schools to give expansion of the name of student/ mother/father/ guardian and not to use abbreviations with their names in the registration form.

The court observed that members of some communities in the State had no surnames. A good section of citizens having surnames did not state surnames since they mostly were indicative of caste.

As the abbreviations along with names were not definite indicatives of surname/father’s name/ mother’s name/ family name, the abbreviations without its expansions were used as an integral part of names. In short, the expansion of abbreviations need not be their surnames. People were forced to give the expansion of abbreviations attached to their names in the ‘surname’ column, which may cause complications in their official transactions.

The grievance, therefore, merited consideration by the CBSE, the court.