Name change for minor son

Respected Advocates,

I seek your valuable advice and help with a matter concerning the name change of my minor son. My son was born in October 2025 and we had updated his name in his birth certificate. Due to some reasons, after 3 months we decided to change his name. Since then, I have done below tasks:

1. Got a notarized affidavit.
2. Name change notification in newspaper.
3. Name change notification in Gazette.
4. Adhaar also reflects the new and correct name.

But even after having all of the above done, the MCD registrar office has denied to change the name in my son's birth certificate 6-7 times, stating that complete name change cannot be done and only alias can be added. Adding an alias would mean issues and confusion for my son forever. I want a complete removal of old name and need the new name to reflect in the birth certificate. This issue is also causing problems in his Passport process and the passport authorities are shocked to know that MCD is not willing to change the name in birth certificate. We are in Delhi and the MCD registrar office is in Raja Garden. I request you to please help me with a permanent solution to this problem.

Thank you

Asked 8 hours ago in Civil Law

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3 Answers

File a formal complaint to the Zonal Deputy Health Officer or the Registrar-General / Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths at the MCD Official Portal, attaching copies of your affidavit, newspaper ads, Gazette notification, and Aadhaar.

2) state in your written application that under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, the registrar has the power to correct or cancel entries fraudulent or improper in nature upon production of proper verification.

3) : Request a written, formal rejection letter ("speaking order") from the Raja Garden office stating their refusal to update the complete name despite a legal Gazette notification.

4) file writ petition in HC if no action is taken on your complaint

Ajay Sethi

Advocate, Mumbai

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The reasons for refusal to correct the name in the birth register by the MCD is given below:

Under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD) Act, 1969, the Registrar is empowered to make corrections or cancellations only if an entry is proven to be "erroneous in form or substance, or has been fraudulently or improperly made".

MCD considers the birth register to be an authentic historical record of the event as it took place at birth. Since you named your child voluntarily at the time of registration and changed it three months later, MCD views this as a subsequent personal name change rather than a clerical error made at birth. Standard MCD administrative protocol dictates appending an alias (e.g., [Old Name] alias [New Name]) rather than purging the original record entirely.

You may please note that the passport officials generally don't entertain name discrepancies, but under Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Passport Rules, a Gazette Notification is the ultimate proof of a legal name change in India. MCD does not necessarily need to re-issue the birth certificate with only the new name if you present the full documentary evidences in this regard.

If front-desk executive staff reject the application, book a Public Inquiry / RPO Appointment at the Regional Passport Office (Herald House, ITO or RPO Delhi). Senior officers are well aware that a Gazette notification legally overrides the old name on the birth certificate.

If you still insist on the birth certificate to be issued with the new name alone by the MCD then you may have to file a suit for declaration and mandatory injunction against MCD to declare the new name as legally valid and to direct the authorities to reissue a new birth certificate incorporating the new name.

Once the Civil Court issues a decree, MCD is legally bound to comply and issue the clean certificate.