High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh · 2025

The argument of learned counsel for the respondent that correction sought by the petitioner cannot be made on 9 WP(C) No. 1191/2024 the ground that there is no provision for correction of recorded parentage on the basis of an alleged Adoption Deed deserves to be rejected on the ground that in terms of Section 16 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, whenever any document registered under any law is produced before any court purporting to record an adoption made and is signed by the parties, the court shall presume that the adoption has been made in compliance with the provisions of this Court unless and is disproved. For purposes of present controversy, Section 16 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 is relevant and reproduced herein:-

16. Presumption registered documents relating to adoption. – Whenever any document registered under any law for the time being in force is produced before any court purporting to record an adoption made and is signed by the person giving and the person taking the child in adoption, the court shall presume that the adoption has been made in compliance with the provisions of this Act unless and until it is disproved.

It is the admitted fact that the Adoption Deed in question a document which has not disproved/disqualified. 10 WP(C) No. 1191/2024

Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance upon a three Judge Bench judgment of the Apex Court in titled “Jigya Yadav (Minor) (through Guardian/Father Hari Singh) vs. C.B.S.E (Central Board of Secondary Education & Ors) reported in 2021 AIR (SC) 4775, wherein the Apex Court in paragraphs 170 and 171 has drawn conclusions by stated mechanism and passed directions to process the applications for correction or change, as the case may be, in the certificate issued by it in the respective cases under consideration.

The petitioner, as per the stand taken by the respondent, has not formally applied for correction of his parentage and that had he applied, it would have been certainly dealt with and decided by the competent authority in the respondent-Board. It means that respondent-Board is not averse to consider the matter at the appropriate level, if applied for by the petitioner.

Disposed of, accordingly, along with connected application(s). (M A CHOWDHARY) JUDGE JAMMU 27.02.2025 Naresh/Secy Whether order is speaking: Yes/No Whether order is reportable: Yes/no Naresh Kumar 2025.02.27 16:38 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document