Delayed Death Registration Mandatorily Requires SDM Order; Bypassing Statutory Route 'Would Amount To Extinguishing The Existence Of A Person': Allahabad HC The High Court of Judicature at Allahabad has dismissed a writ petition seeking a mandamus to command the Registrar (Birth-Death), Nagar Nigam, Varanasi, to issue a death certificate without obtaining a mandatory statutory order from the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) for delayed registration. The Division Bench, comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Vivek Saran, ruled that bypassing the statutory process to issue a death certificate would undermine the purpose of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969. Background of the Case The petitioner, Naval Kishore Srivastava, married Smt. Madhuri Srivastava in 1962. According to the petitioner, she left him in the same year to reside at her maternal house in Bareilly, where she gave birth to a son named Kamal Kishore Srivastava. The petitioner filed a divorce suit in 1970, which was rejected, and a subsequent appeal was dismissed in 1974. Despite being out of touch, he contributed half his salary to Madhuri from 1975 to 1985. In 1985, Srivastava retired from the Indian Air Force as a Squadron Leader but received no pension contributions for Madhuri. He claimed she died on January 25, 2001, while living at her parents’ house in Varanasi. In 2001, he married Smt. Meera Srivastava, but her name was not recorded in his service records, which still listed Madhuri. In 2011, he applied to remove Madhuri’s name and substitute Meera’s. In 2016, he disclosed his spouse’s name as Meena Srivastava in a pension form, prompting the Directorate of Air Veterans to request family details, including a death certificate for Madhuri.#naval_kishore_srivastava #madhuri_srivastava #high_court_of_judicature_allahabad #sub_divisional_magistrate_varanasi #nagar_nigam_varanasi
Allahabad High Court Rules Sub-Divisional Magistrate Alone Can Issue Death Certificate for Delayed Registrations The Allahabad High Court recently ruled that under the Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) is the sole authority to issue a death certificate if the registration of death is delayed beyond one year. The court emphasized that any attempt to bypass this statutory requirement by directing the Registrar to issue the certificate directly would undermine the purpose of the Act. This decision came in response to a petition filed by Naval Kishore Srivastava, who sought a death certificate for his first wife, Madhuri Srivastava, who died in 2001. The petitioner, who married Madhuri Srivastava in 1962, claimed she left him in the same year. He filed a divorce suit in 1970, which was rejected, and the appeal was dismissed in 1974. Despite this, the court ordered him to provide half his salary to Madhuri for several years. He later took voluntary retirement in 1985 as a Squadron Leader in the Indian Air Force. The petitioner stated that Madhuri died in 2001 while living at her parents’ house. In 2001, the petitioner married again, but the name of his second wife could not be recorded in his service records. In 2011, he applied for the deletion of his first wife’s name and the substitution of his second wife as his legally recognized spouse. When he filled out a form for his 80th birthday in 2025, he disclosed his second wife as his spouse. This prompted the Directorate of Air Veterans to request details of his family, including marriage and death certificates or a court-issued divorce decree.#allahabad_high_court #naval_kishore_srivastava #madhuri_srivastava #directorates_of_air_veterans #section_13_registration_act
