Bombay High Court

KALEEM AHEMAD SALEEM AHMADversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROU. ITS SEC. DEPT OF MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION AND ORS

Decided: 19 August 2026
Disposal: Disposed Off

Holding

The petition is dismissed as the Court is not inclined to entertain the name‑correction claim and directs the petitioner to pursue the pending application before the appropriate authority.

Summary

The petitioner, Kaleem Ahemad, filed a writ petition seeking correction of his son’s name in the birth record, contending that the surname and given names were incorrectly entered. He requested that the child’s name be changed to ‘Arshan s/o. Kaleem Ahemad’ and that the prefix ‘Mohammed’ be removed. The Court, referencing the Full Bench decision in Janabai D/o. Himmatrao Thakur vs. State of Maharashtra (2019), declined to entertain the petition, noting that the matter should be addressed through a pending application before the appropriate authority (Respondent No.3). The Court directed the petitioner to pursue the correction through that pending application, if the authority has the power to grant it. Consequently, the writ petition was disposed of without adjudicating the merits of the name‑correction claim.

Issues considered

Whether a writ petition is the appropriate forum for seeking correction of a child's name in a birth record
Whether the Court can entertain the petition when a pending application before the concerned authority exists
Whether the authority (Respondent No.3) possesses jurisdiction to order the name correction

Subjects

name correction
birth certificate
writ petition
jurisdiction
civil appellate jurisdiction
Maharashtra

Judgment

                                                                                    905-WP.10664.2026.odt

     JVS.
                               IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                                       CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

JAYANT
VISHWANATH
                                        WRIT PETITION NO. 10664 OF 2026
SALUNKE
Digitally signed by
JAYANT VISHWANATH
SALUNKE
Date: 2026.08.20
                      Kaleem Ahemad Saleem Ahemad               }      Petitioner
11:28:50 +0530

                            Versus
                      The State of Maharashtra & Ors.           }      Respondents


                      Mr. Shrirang Katneshwarkar with Mr. Sandeep Gupta, for the Petitioner.

                      Mr. O. A. Chandurkar, Additional Government Pleader with Mr. Aditya
                      R. Deolekar, AGP for State.


                                  CORAM : RAVINDRA V. GHUGE, ACJ. &
                                          GAUTAM A. ANKHAD, J.
                                  DATE     : 19th AUGUST, 2026
                      P.C.:
                      1.          The Petitioner is the father of a male child born on 15 th

                      December, 2013 at Alhera Hospital, Malegaon, District Nashik. The father’s

                      name is Kaleem Ahemad s/o. Saleem Ahemad (the Petitioner). The mother’s

                      name is Misbah Kaleem Ahemad. The child’s name in the birth record is

                      Mohammed Arshan Ahemad            Kaleem Ahemad. According              to    the

                      father/Petitioner, the word ‘Ahemad’ should appear as surname and not as

                      the middle name. According to him, the name of the minor son should be

                      Mohammed Arshan s/o. Kaleem Ahemad. The learned Advocate for the

                      Petitioner submits that even the first name Mohammed Arshan should be

                      reduced to Arshan and the word Mohammed should be removed.




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                                                                  905-WP.10664.2026.odt




2.             We make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on the

merits of the claim. Considering the law laid down by the Full Bench of this

Court in Janabai D/o. Himmatrao Thakur vs. the State of Maharashtra &

Ors., 2019 (6) Mh. L. J. 769, we were not inclined to entertain this Petition.


3.             The learned Advocate for the Petitioner submits that an

application seeking correction in the name is pending with Respondent No.3.

Let Respondent No. 3 deal with the said application on its own merits, in the

event the said authority is vested with the power to pass orders on such

application.



4.             With the aforesaid direction, this Petition is disposed off.




     [GAUTAM A. ANKHAD, J.]                     [ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE]




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