A person can change his caste-indicative surname to lead a respectable life in the social structure-Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court, while hearing a case recently, said that Under Article 21 of the Constitution, the right to life includes the right to live a life of dignity. Under this right to live a life with dignity, a person has the right to change his caste surname, due to which he has to face caste discrimination, insulting prejudices in the society.                                                                                    Justice Mini Pushpkarna's bench has said that The right to live a life with dignity also includes living without caste, where a person does not live by being tied to a particular caste.Thus the person has the right to change the surname of his caste due to which he has to face caste prejudice in the society.                                     The court made the above observations during the hearing of a case in which two real brothers had filed a petition in the High Court Challenging the decision of the CBSE board which refused to change his father's surname in his 10th and 12th board certificates.                                  According to the case, in the 10th and 12th certificates issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education, the name of the father of the petitioner brothers was written as Laxman Mochi.The petitioners had filed an application in the CBSE board seeking to change their father's surname from Mochi to Nayak.The Central Board of Secondary Education refused to accept this demand of the petitioners, after which the petitioners filed a petition in the High Court seeking directions to the CBSE.                                             The petitioners said that due to the Mochi surname, their father had to face caste prejudice many times.So he publshed a note in the newspaper announcing that he had changed his name from Laxman Mochi to Laxman Nayak and for all future purposes he would be known by that name.He also published a note to this effect in the Gazette of India. After publication in the gazette, his name was changed to Laxman Nayak in the certificates issued by various government agencies, which is evident from the certificates.                                                                                   The Central Board of Secondary Education, giving reasons for not acceding to the request of the petitioners, stated that Change in surname of the petitioner would lead to change in his caste which is likely to be misused.Further, the petitioner seeks change in his father's surname, the record of which is not with the Board.                                                               The bench observed that In other government certificates, the petitioners' father's surname has already been changed, in such a situation, there is no reason not to make a similar change to reflect the correct name of the petitioner's father in the certificates issued by the CBSE Board.                                                                                          The court has set aside the decision of the CBSE board and ordered the change of surname of the petitioner to be mentioned in the certificates of the petitioner. Along with this, the court has made it clear that by changing the surname, the petitioner will not be entitled to get reservation or any other benefit given to the changed caste/surname.