The Madras High Court on Monday directed the Centre as well as the State government to respond to a public interest litigation which insisted on creating columns in all forms, certificates, applications, licences and other government documents to mention mother’s name in addition to the name of the applicant’s father.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu sought the governments’ response after observing that it might be appropriate if the columns in printed forms permit mentioning the name of either or both parents as per the wish of the applicants since there might be many who were brought up by single parents.
Patriarchal mindset
Advocate B. Ramkumar Adityan of Thoothukudi filed the PIL petition on the ground that the government applications and forms continue to follow the patriarchal mindset of seeking only father’s name though the mother plays a vital role in the development of a child, who might want to give equal recognition to her too.
He said even now most private as well as government institutions seek only father’s name of applicants and do not bother to insist upon mother’s name.
It was pointed out to the court that only father’s name was insisted upon right from nomination forms issued to apply for awards to the applications issued for seeking ration cards.
