'What's in a name': SC says intrinsic to individual's identity, inviolable

The Supreme Court on Thursday held that a name is an intrinsic element of identity and an individuals control over such cardinal element of identity cannot be denied to himher by the CBSE citing its examination byelawsIn a 132page judgment a threejudge bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar said The identity of an individual is one of the most closely guarded areas of the constitutional scheme in IndiaThe top court said the expression of identity is a protected element of freedom of expression under the Constitution The top court judgment came on a batch of 22 petitions challenging the validity of the CBSEs byelaws which put restrictions in corrections of names of studentsCountering one of the petitions the CBSE had argued that the name of the parents was consistent with the school records and denied name change to the petitioner post publication of the results To this the court said The CBSE cannot impose precondition of applying for correction consistent with the school records only before publication of results Such a condition as we have held would be unreasonable and excessiveThe top court directed the CBSE to amend its byelaws and held that the provision regarding change of name post publication of examination results is excessively restrictive and imposes unreasonable restrictionsThe bench also comprising Justices B R Gavai and Krishna Murari emphasised that an individual must be in complete control of hisher name and the law must enable the individual to retain as well as to exercise such control freely for all timesAlso Read SC directs CBSE CISCE to place on record objective criteria for 12th assessmentClarifying on the aspect of identity the bench said identity is an amalgam of various internal and external including acquired characteristics of an individual and name can be regarded as one of the foremost indicators of identity In other words expression of identity is a protected element of freedom of expression under the Constitution it notedA Board dealing with maintenance of educational standards cannot arrogate to itself the power to impact identity of students who enrol with it The right to control ones identity must remain with the individualThe top court said that the CBSE using its administrative efficiency to make it practically impossible for a student to alter hisher identity in the Board certificates no matter how urgent and important it is would be highly disproportionate and can in no manner be termed as a reasonable restrictionThe Board cannot put fetters on its duties so as to cause grave prejudice to the students with legitimate causes for changing their certificates The exercise of discretion in this negative manner would be arbitrary and unreasonable at best it saidHowever the top court noted that there is merit in the CBSEs argument that frequent changes cannot be permitted as there is scope of abuse and misuse apart from administrative burden But to say that post the publication of examination results and issuance of certificates there can be no way to alter the record would be a case of total prohibition it addedTo use administrative efficiency to make it practically impossible for a student to alter her identity in the Board certificates no matter how urgent and important it is would be highly disproportionate and can in no manner be termed a a reasonable restriction noted the top courtThe bench added that reasonableness would demand a proper balance between a students right to be identified in the official public records in manner of her choice and the Boards argument of administrative efficiencyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever