The Madras High Court today held that judicial and metropolitan magistrates in Tamil Nadu since January 25 are not empowered to pass orders on issuance of birth and death certificates to applicants.
A division bench comprising justices S Nagamuthu and P N Prakash gave the direction while referring to a case of fraudulent exploitation of judicial system by a criminal in Villupuram district, to get a birth certificate.
Earlier, the court had during the hearing of a habeas corpus petition filed by the father of a convict, found that the petitioner had secured the birth certificate of his son recently based on an order from amagistrate court under Section 13(3) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969.
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The father had claimed that his son was a minor at the time of committing the offence and hence he was entitled to relief under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
The fraudulent exploitation of judicial system to get such certificates came to light on perusal of the birth certificate of the convict.
The bench today said, "The judicial or metropolitan magistrates in the state of Tamil Nadu cannot pass any order under Section 13(3) of the RBD Act after January 25.
All pending matters are directed to be disposed of with liberty to the petitioners to take recourse to the concerned executive magistrates."
"Any entry made in the register of births and deaths, pursuant to an order passed by judicial or metropolitan magistrates after January 25 should be deleted," it said.
The bench also directed the Tamil Nadu government to issue necessary guidelines to the Executive Magistrates for dealing with petitions under Section 13(3) of the RBD Act.
"Until guidelines are issued, the executive magistrates shall obtain reports from the concerned village administrative officers or revenue inspectors and conduct inquiry as far as may be possible by following the procedure laid down in Tamil Nadu Revenue Enquiries Act, 1893," it said.
The Madras High Court had earlier ordered inquiry through a retired district judge in an attempt to streamline the process and eliminate the possibilities of fraudulent claims.
The state government had on January 25 last published an order issued on June 10, 2016, which clarified that any birth or death which has not been registeredwithin one yearof its occurrence shall be registered by an order of the executive magistrate not below the rank of a revenue divisional officer and not by a judicial magistrate.
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