Federal Court judge Mary Lim Thiam Suan, who delivered a 30-page judgment made available last week, said it was the statutory duty of the registrar-general of the National Registration Department (NRD) to act as the keeper of records.
Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and judge Mohamed Zawawi Salleh were also on the bench that allowed the appeal by the businessman, identified as LFK, on Sept 30.
In a case filed in 2015, it was stated that LFK and a married woman, LCY, cohabited, resulting in the child being conceived out of wedlock.
By the time the child was born, the parties had separated.
The mother left the shared residence in Selangor and returned to Negeri Sembilan with the baby.
She then registered the birth of the child, but omitted the father’s name, resulting in the column for father stating, “Details not given” (maklumat tidak diperolehi).
LFK then applied to the High Court for a DNA test to be conducted, which proved that he was the father of the child.
He then applied to the court for an order that the NRD correct the record to show him as the father in the child’s birth certificate.
The mother and the NRD objected to the application, arguing that the consent of the mother was required, according to their interpretation of Section 13 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957.
In the judgment, Lim said the NRD was under a statutory duty to maintain records which were true and accurate.
“We remind ourselves that the intent of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957 is the registration of births and deaths,” she said.
Lim said the registers were meant to be the source or act as both depository and repository of raw data of the nation’s population and not to establish conclusively the facts of parentage.
She added that the information in the registers had far-reaching ramifications as birth certificates were essential for a person’s life and livelihood.
Lim said prescribed particulars in the birth register must be recorded and errors or omissions subsequently “discovered” could be corrected.
She said Section 28 of the Act also imposed a duty on the NRD to procure by all means in its power the best and most accurate information.
“The registrar-general will be failing in his statutory duty if he does not correct the record,” she added.
The Federal Court also observed that there was a need to amend the Act to meet the demands of the 21st century to cater for advances in technical and scientific ways of determining paternity.
Lawyers Balwant Singh Sidhu and Kelvinder Singh Sidhu represented the father while Ng Kiam Nam appeared for the mother. Senior Federal Counsel Suzana Atan, S Narkunavathy and M Kogilambigai Muthusamy appeared for the government.