The Kerala High Court has observed that as the registration of birth and death is mandatory under the Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969, all citizens are bound to follow the Act.
The court made the observation while disposing of a petition filed by the Centre against the Central Administration Tribunal’s (CAT) directive to Railways to include the name of a Railway employee’s second wife as a family pension beneficiary and legal heir of his post-retirement benefits.
Railways had rejected his request on the ground that he had failed to produce the death certificate of the ex-husband of his second wife.
Penalty provision
The court observed that the Act provided that death should be registered at any time.
The Act also stipulated that penalty could be imposed if the death was not registered.
In fact, the Centre needed accurate countrywide registration data for its various programmes.
Population was one of the most dynamic factors in the country and hence the registration of birth and death was mandatory. Citizens were bound to follow the Act.
Erred
When there were provisions for registration of death and when the Act imposed penalty for violation of the same, the tribunal had erred in directing that the application of the petitioner, without a death certificate issued by a competent authority, be processed.
When the Act prescribed certain things to be done in a certain manner, the tribunal could not direct Railways to overlook the statutory provisions, the High Court noted.
