Plea seeks mother’s name in docus, notices issued

The Madras High Court on Monday ordered notice to both State and Union governments on a public interest litigation that sought to create a column to mention mother’s name, too, in all forms, certificates, applications and licences.

When the plea came for hearing, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu observed that it may be more appropriate that the column or columns in the printed forms permitted the entry of either the name of the father or mother, or both the as per the applicant’s wish. It then ordered notice returnable in four weeks.

The petitioner, B Ramkumar Adityan, submitted in his PIL that usually divorce brings about a change of residence for women, and consequently change of school for their children. In such a situation, women are constantly pressured to obtain the absentee husband’s signatures on school leaving certificates.

Banks and passport authorities also remained conservative in their approach and revered the role of the father as the natural guardian. But if father was missing or died, having his name on many documents do not make any sense or serve any purpose, the petitioner said, adding that some forms require signature from the father which is impossible to get.

Also, noting that there has been a steady sizable increase in the number of single-parent adoptions in the past 30 years, the plea cited many factors that have encouraged this, including literacy, financial independence and there being no bar on single women adopting a child. “But despite such an emerging situation, still several public and private institutions seek for father’s name and almost all documents in all departments such as affidavits, deeds, oaths, schools, banks, mutual funds, insurance companies and applications of any nature continue to issue forms that require the father’s name alone,” the plea added.

The petitioner sought for a direction to the State and Union governments to direct all the Ministries, Departments and offices to create a mandatory column in all forms to write mother’s name in addition to father’s name wherever sought.