Registrar must exercise statutory power under Section 15 to correct erroneous entries in death certificates.

The petitioner’s mother, Manguben, passed away on February 3, 1990. At the time of her hospital admission, her husband’s father’s name was erroneously recorded as "Bhalaji Motiji" instead of "Bhalaji Nathaji," which was subsequently reflected in her death certificate

This error prevented the local authorities (Talati-cum-Mantri) from issuing a Pedhinama (family pedigree), thereby obstructing the petitioner from selling ancestral land

The petitioner applied to Respondent No. 2 (Registrar of Births and Deaths) for correction, but the respondent orally directed the petitioner to obtain a court order instead of exercising statutory powers

1. Whether the Respondent No. 2 failed to exercise the jurisdiction vested in him under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, by refusing to correct the entry in the death certificate

Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, and the Gujarat Registration of Births and Death Rules, 2004, which empower the Registrar to correct errors in form or substance in the register

Nitaben Nareshbhai Patel v. State of Gujarat (2008 (1) GLR 884), which established that the Registrar has the authority to make corrections if an entry is proved to be erroneous, fraudulent, or improperly made

The court found that Respondent No. 2's refusal to act constituted a failure to exercise statutory jurisdiction

The court noted that when a statute confers power upon an authority, it is incumbent upon them to exercise it judiciously rather than shifting the burden onto the Court

By comparing the facts to the ratio in Nitaben Nareshbhai Patel, the court determined that since the error in the husband’s father’s name was a substantive error in the death record, the Registrar was legally obligated to process the application and make the necessary correction based on the materials provided

The respondent cannot conveniently put the onus on the court when the statute provides the power to correct records

The court directed Respondent No. 2 to correct the husband’s father’s name in Manguben’s death certificate to "Bhalaji Nathaji" instead of "Bhalaji Motiji" within four weeks

Rule was made absolute