Moumita Sinha @ Singh v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

25th Nov., 2025 Item no.D/L 13 Court No. 18 Pradip, A.R.(Ct.) In the High Court at Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side Case No.

WPA 26811 of 2025 In the matter of :

Moumita Sinha @ Singh .... Petitioner VS.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

....Respondents For the Petitioner:

Mr. Soumen Dutta Mr. Subham Dutta ....Advocates For the Respondent no. 2:

Mr. Ranjay De Mr. Basabjit Banerjee Mr. Adityajit Abel Bose ....Advocates For the WBCSSC:

Mr. Kalyan Bandopadhyay, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Biswaroop Bhattacharjee Ms. Pramiti Bandopadhyay Mr. Arka Kumar Nag Mr. Rahul Kumar Singh ....Advocates For the State:

Mr. Biplab Guha Mr. Tapas Kr. Roy ....Advocates

1. Affidavit of service filed in Court today is taken on record.

2. The petitioner seeks for a direction upon the respondent authorities to change her surname from 8Sinha9 to 8Singh9 and also change her father9s name from 8Mantu Sinha9 to 8Mantulal Singh9.

3. The admit card dated 31st July, 1998 issued by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education records the name of the candidate as

8Moumita Sinha9 daughter of 8Mantu Sinha9 and her date of birth as 18th December, 1980.

4. The petitioner obtained a birth certificate on 2nd August, 2024 from the gram panchayat, Kankaboti by recording her name as 8Moumita Singh9, the name of her father as 8Mantulal Singh9 and her date of birth as 18th December, 1982.

5. The petitioner has annexed the death certificate of one 8Mantulal Singh9 issued on 24th December, 2022 and claims the same to be the death certificate of her father.

6. The petitioner relies on the Kolkata Gazette Extraordinary dated 28th October, 2024 wherein it was declared that 8Moumita Sinha9 daughter of 8Mantulal Singh9 has changed her surname from 8Sinha9 to 8Singh9 vide affidavit sworn before the Ld. Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class and 8Moumita Singh9 and 8Moumita Sinha9 is the same and one identical person.

7. Relying on the aforesaid Gazette publication the petitioner prays that her details recorded by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education be rectified.

8. On a perusal of the records, it appears that the petitioner has gone to the extent of changing the name of her father after he expired on 24th December, 2022. As long as her father was alive, neither did her father nor the petitioner sought for changing the name from 8Mantu Sinha9 to 8Mantulal Singh9.

9. The petitioner has also managed to obtain a birth certificate on a different name with a different date of birth. All the vital details of the petitioner being her name, her father9s name and her date of birth as reflected in her admit card for the class X Board examination

dated 31st July, 1998 have been changed in the new birth certificate dated 2nd August, 2024 issued by the panchayat.

10. The father of a child is the best person to know the name, surname and date of birth of the new born. In the instant case, the father of the petitioner admitted her in a school by the name 8Moumita Sinha9, disclosing his name as 8Mantu Sinha9 and her date of birth as 18th December, 1980. The Board issued the admit card disclosing the aforesaid details.

11. The petitioner appeared in the Madhyamik examination in the year 1998 and thereafter she pursued higher secondary education with the name 8Moumita Sinha9 and all on a sudden she applied for change of her name from 8Moumita Sinha9 to 8Moumita Singh9, her date of birth from 18th December, 1980 to 18th December, 1982 and her father9s name from 8Mantu Sinha9 to 8Mantulal Singh9. The said application for change of the details was made by her in the year 2024. By the said date her father expired on 24th December, 2022.

12. Learned advocate representing the respondent no. 2 relies on the notification dated 17th May, 2023 published in the Kolkata Gazette Extraordinary on 18th May, 2023 which clearly lays down the persons who can apply for requesting change of name, surname, reversion to maiden name on divorce/separation/death of the husband, religion and gender. The notification does not permit a child to apply for change of the name of his/her father.

13. The change which the petitioner seeks to make amounts to changing the identity of a person entirely. It does not appear that the change has been sought for any bona fide reason. It is evident that the petitioner intends to obtain certain benefits relying upon the

incorrect data which she intends to insert in her educational certificates. She has prayed for direction upon the School Service Commission to allow her in the interview in the ongoing selection process for recruitment of teachers relying upon such data. The act of the petitioner is absolutely mala fide.

14. In view of the above, the prayer made by the petitioner seeking direction upon the authority to change her surname and also her father9s name cannot be allowed.

15. The writ petition fails and is hereby dismissed.

16. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of all requisite formalities. (Amrita Sinha, J.)