11. Persons whose births and deaths are registrable.—(1) The persons whose births and deaths
shall, in the first instance, be registrable under this Chapter are the following, namely:—
(a) in 4
[the territories to which this Act extends] the members of every race, sect or tribe to which
the Indian Succession Act, 18655
(10 of 1865) applies, and in respect of which an order under section
332 of that Act is not for the time being in force, and all persons professing the Christian religion;
1. See now the Special Marriage Act, 1954 (43 of 1954).
2. See now the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 (3 of 1936).
3. Sub-section (2) rep. by the A.O. 1937.
4. Subs. by the Adaptation of Laws (No. 2), Order 1956, for “a Part A State or a Part C State”.
5. See now the Indian Succession Act, 1925 (39 of 1925), s. 3.
5
1
* * * * *
(2) But the State Government by notification in the Official Gazette, may 2
*** extend the operation of
this Chapter to any other class of persons either generally or in any local area.
B.—Registration Establishment
12. Power for State Government to appoint Registrars for its territories.—The State Government
may appoint, either by name or by virtue of their office, so many persons as it thinks necessary to be
Registrars of Births and Deaths for such local areas within the territories under its administration as it
may define and, if it sees fit, for any class of persons within any part of those territories.
13. [Power for Central Government to appoint Registrars for Indian States]. Omitted. by the A.O.
1950.
14. Registrar to be deemed a public servant.—Every Registrar of Births and Deaths shall be
deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).
15. [Power to remove Registrars].—Rep. by the A.O. 1937.
16. Office and attendance of Registrar.—(1) Every Registrar of Births and Deaths shall have an
office in the local area, or within the part of the territories or dominions for which he is appointed.
(2) Every Registrar of Births and Deaths to whom the State Government may direct this sub-section
to apply shall attend at his office for the purpose of registering births and deaths on such days and at such
hours as the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages may direct, and shall cause to be placed in
some conspicuous place on or near the outer door of his office his name, with the addition of Registrar of
Births and Deaths for the local area or class for which he is appointed, and the days and hours of his
attendance.
17. Absence of Registrar or vacancy in his office.—(1) When any Registrar of Births and Deaths to
whom the State Government may direct this section to apply3
, not being a Registrar of Births and Deaths
for a local area in the town of Calcutta, Madras or Bombay is absent, or when his office is temporarily
vacant, any person whom the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages appoints in this behalf,
or, in default of such appointment the Judge of the District Court within the local limits of whose
jurisdiction the Registrar’s office is situate, or such other officer as the State Government appoints in this
behalf, shall be the Registrar of Births and Deaths during such absence or until the State Government fills
the vacancy.
(2) When any such Registrar of Births and Deaths for a local area in the town of Calcutta, Madras or
Bombay is absent, or when his office is temporarily vacant, any person whom the Registrar General of
Births, Deaths and Marriages appoints in this behalf shall be the Registrar of Births and Deaths during
such absence or until the State Government fills the vacancy.
(3) The Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages shall report to the State Government all
appointments made by him under this section.
18. Register books to be supplied and preservation of records to be provided for.—The State
Government shall every Registrar of Births and Deaths with a sufficient number of register books of
births and of register books of deaths, and shall make suitable provision for the preservation of the
records connected with the registration of births and deaths.
1. Clause (b) omitted by the A.O. 1950.
2. The words “with the previous approval of the G. G. in C.,” omitted by the Act 38 of 1920, s. 2 and the First Schedule.
3. The section has been declared by the Government of Madras to apply to all Registrars appointed by that Government under
section 12, see Mad. R. and O.
6
C.—Mode of registration
19. Duty of Registrar to register births and deaths of which notice is given.—Every Registrar of
Births and Deaths of notice of a birth or death within the local area or among the class for which he is
appointed, shall, if the notice is given within the prescribed time and in the prescribed mode by a person
authorized by this Act to give the notice, forthwith make an entry of the birth or death in the proper
register book:
Provided that—
(a) if he has reason to believe the notice to be in any respect false, he may refuse to register
the birth or death until he receives an order from the Judge of the District Court directing him to make
the entry and prescribing the manner in which the entry is to be made; and
(b) he shall not enter in the register the name of any person as father of an illegitimate child,
unless at the request of the mother and of the person acknowledging himself to be the father of the
child.
20. Persons authorised to give notice of birth.—Any of the following persons may give notice of a
birth, namely:—
(a) the father or mother of the child;
(b) any person present at the birth;
(c) any person occupying, at the time of the birth, any part of the house wherein the child was
born and having knowledge of the child having been born in the house;
(d) any medical practitioner in attendance after the birth and having personal knowledge of birth
occurred;
(e) any person having charge of the child.
21. Persons authorised to give notice of death.—Any of the following persons may give notice of a
death, namely:—
(a) any relative of the deceased having knowledge of any of the particulars required to be
registered concerning the death;
(b) any person present at the death;
(c) any person occupying, at the time of the death, any part of the house wherein the death
occurred and having knowledge of the deceased having died in the house;
(d) any person in attendance during the last illness of the deceased:
(e) any person who has seen the body of the deceased after death.
22. Entry of birth or death to be signed by person giving notice.—(1) When an entry of a birth or
death has been made by the Registrar of Births and Deaths under section 19, the person giving notice of
the birth or death must sign the entry in the register in the presence of the Registrar:
1
[Provided that it shall not be necessary for the person giving notice to attend before the Registrar or
to sign the entry in the register if he has given such notice in writing and has furnished to the satisfaction
of the Registrar such evidence of his identity as may be required by any rules made by the State
Government in this behalf.]
1. Ins. by Act 9 of 1911, s. 2.
7
(2) Until the entry has been so signed, 1
[or the conditions specified in the proviso to sub-section (1)
have been complied with] the birth or death shall not be deemed to be registered under this Act.
(3) When the birth of an illegitimate child is registered, and the mother and the person acknowledging
himself to be the father of the child jointly request that person may be registered as the father, the mother
and that person must both sign the entry in the register in the presence of the Registrar.
23. Grant of certificate of registration of birth or death.—The Registrar of Births and Deaths
shall, on application made at the time of registering any birth or death by the person giving notice of the
birth or death, and on payment by him of the prescribed fee, give to the applicant a certificate in the
prescribed form signed by the Registrar, of having registered the birth or death.
24. Duty of Registrars as to sending certified copies of entries in register books to Registrar
General.—(1) Every Registrar of Birth and Deaths in 2
[the territories to which this Act extends] shall
send to the Registrar General of Birth, Deaths and Marriages for the territories within which the local area
or class for which he is appointed is situate or resides, at the prescribed intervals, a true copy certified by
him, in the prescribed form, of all the entries of births and deaths in the register book kept by him since
the last of those intervals:
Provided that in the case Registrars of Births and Deaths who are clergymen of the Churches of
England, Rome and Scotland the Registrar may, if so directed by his ecclesiastical superior, send the
certified copies in the first instance to that superior, who shall send them to the proper Registrar General
of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
In this sub-section “Church of England” and “Church of Scotland” means the Church of England and
the Church of Scotland as by law established respectively; and “Church of Rome” means the Church
which regards the Pope of Rome as its spiritual head.
3
* * * * *
4
* * * * *
25. Searches and copies of entries in register books.—(1) Every Registrar of Births and Deaths
shall, on payment of the prescribed fees, at all reasonable times, allow searches to be made in the register
books kept by him, and give a copy of any entry in the same.
(2) Every copy of an entry in a register book given under this section shall be certified by the
Registrar of Births and Deaths, and shall be admissible in evidence for the purpose of proving the birth or
death to which the entry relates.
26. Exceptional provision for registration of certain births and deaths.—Notwithstanding
anything in section 19, the 5
[State Government] may make rules6
authorising Registrars of Births and
Deaths, on conditions and in circumstances to be specified in the rules, to register births and deaths
occurring outside the local areas or classes for which they are appointed.
D.—Penalty for False Information
27. Penalty for willfully giving false information.—If any person willfully makes, or causes to be
made, for the purpose of being inserted in any register of births or deaths, any false statement in
connection with any notice of a birth or death under this Act, he shall be punished with imprisonment for
a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
1. Ins. by Act 9 of 1911, s. 2.
2. Subs. by the Adaptation of Laws (No. 2), Order 1956, for “Part A States or Part C States”.
3. Sub-section (2) omitted by the A.O. 1950
4. The proviso rep. by the A.O. 1937.
5. Subs. by Act 9 of 1911, s. 3 for “G.G. in C.”.
6. For rules made under section 26 conjointly with sections 28 and 36, see Gazette of India, 1888, Part. I, p. 336, and different
local Rules and Orders. All rules made by the G.G. in C. under this Act, before 1911, shall be deemed to have been made by
the State Governments, see section 6 of Act 9 of 1911.
8
E.—Correction of Errors
28. Correction of entry in register of births or deaths.—(1) If it is proved to the satisfaction of a
Registrar of Births and Deaths that any entry of a birth or death in any register kept by him under this Act
is erroneous in form or substance, he may, subject to such rules1
as may be made by the 2
[State
Government] with respect to the conditions and circumstances on and in which errors may be corrected,
correct the error by entry in the margin, without any alteration of the original entry, and shall sign the
marginal entry and add thereto the date of the correction.
(2) If a certified copy of the entry has already been sent to the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and
Marriages, the Registrar of Births and Deaths shall make and send a separate certified copy of the original
erroneous entry and of the marginal correction therein made.