Karnataka HC quashes govt notice on changes in birth Act

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court quashed a notification by the state government to amend the Karnataka Registration of Births and Deaths Rules against the Registration of Births and Deaths Act to take away the powers of magistrates and to give them to assistant commissioners (sub-divisional magistrates).

“The power conferred under the Act is neither quasi-judicial nor administrative, it is ‘judicial’. If Section 13 of the Act confers certain judicial powers upon a magistrate, it is trite that the Rules cannot take it away by going beyond or deviating from what is mandated under the Act… If the amendment Rule of 2022 is not obliterated, it would be permitting the tail to wag the dog”, said Justice M Nagaprasanna, quashing the notification dated July 18, 2022.

Any birth or death not registered within one year shall be registered only on an order of a magistrate of the first class or a presidency magistrate under Section 13(3) of the Act and on payment of a late fee of Rs 10. The state government has brought an amendment to Rule 9, particularly to Rule 9 (3), by the July 18, 2022 notification, to give powers to assistant commissioners.