Registration of Births and Deaths Act: An Overview

The government used the pertinent sections of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1969 following the flash flood that occurred in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand in February 2021. The State's Health Department made the decision to deem those who went missing in the catastrophe "dead" on the advice of the Center. According to this, the authorized government official will provide the missing person’s family or relative’s copies of their death certificates. The author of this essay will provide an outline of the aforementioned Act by going through some of its most important clauses.

Object of the Regulation of Birth and Death Registration Act

The Registration of Births and Deaths Act of 1969 governs issues related to the registration of births and deaths as well as issues related thereto.

Registration Authorities and Their Authority

The authority’s appointment power and their functions are described below −

Authorities	Provision	Appointment	Power
Registrar-General	Section 3	Central Government of India The Government may also designate a person with the appropriate designation to carry out tasks under the direction of the Registrar-General.	To provide broad guidelines for registering births, deaths, and other events in the areas covered by this Act
Chief-Registrar	Section 4	Central Government of India. Government can also appoint a person with such designation, as it thinks fit for the purpose to carry out works under the supervision of the Chief-Registrar.	Chief executive, who executes laws and directives under the guidance of the state government. He is in charge of organizing, coordinating, and supervising the tasks involved in state registration.
District-Registrar	Section 6	State Government The State Government may designate Additional District Registrars with	The necessary credentials to serve under the District Registrar's supervision and to perform the tasks delegated by the District Registrar.
Registrars	Section 7	State Government	The Registrars are required to keep themselves informed of each birth and death that occurs within their area of responsibility. They save everything in a register provided under Section 8 or 9 of the Act.

Special Provisions

The special provision of The Registration of Births and Deaths Act are −

Content	Provision	Rationale
Regarding births and deaths in a plantation	Section 9	Births and Deaths occurring on a plantation, the Superintendent of the Plantation must notify the Registrar of such events.
Regarding births and deaths of citizens outside India	Section 20	It stipulates that such births and deaths must be reported to and registered with the Registrar-general. In addition, sub-Section 2 of Section 20 mandates that parents of children born outside of India who have not yet had their information submitted to the Registrar-General under sub-Section (1) of the same Section and who return to India to settle there submit the information within 60 days of the child's arrival in India for the purpose of registration.
Notification of births and deaths	Section 10	It states that some people have a responsibility to tell others about births and deaths when specific conditions are met.
Delay in registration	Section 13	The birth or death information is sent to the Registrar within thirty days. The information regarding either a birth or a death that must be provided to the Registrar after thirty days but within a year of the event will only be recorded after the informant produces written authorization from the required authority, pays the necessary fees, and displays an affidavit made before a notary public or any other officer designated in this regard by the State Government.
Maintenance of records	Section 16 Section 17 Section 19	The Registrars are required to keep a register of all births and deaths that occur within their jurisdiction. The Registrars can search for any birth or death and even get information about any birth or death. The Registrars will send any entries they make to the Chief Registrars or any other person they designate in order to compile all the entries.

Penalties

The penalties are −

Provision	Penalty	Rationale
Section 23(1)	Extend upto fifty rupees	If a person refuses to disclose his information when requested under Section 11 of the Act, gives false information for registration purposes, or fails to give information that is required by law on any birth or death that occurs.
Clause 2	Extend upto fifty rupees	Any Registrar or Sub-Registrar who does not perform their responsibilities as outlined in the Act and as expected of them.
Clause 3	Extend upto fifty rupees	Any medical professionals who disregard or disobey the obligations set out in Section 10's subsection (3).
Clause 4	Extend to ten rupees.	Any individual who violates any rule without a good explanation

Conclusion

Birth and death certificates are often issued at the moment of a person's birth or passing away. But in some extreme cases, such as the Chamoli accident, a new strategy is needed to ease the pain of the deaths. Following a required inquiry, the government decided to provide death certificates to the family members of those who went missing and are presumed dead beyond a reasonable doubt, but whose bodies have not yet been found.

Frequent asked Questions

Q1. Where to register the Birth /Death?

Ans. The birth / death are to be registered at the place of occurrence of birth/death i.e. where the birth/death took place as per the provision of Section 7 (2) of the RBD Act, 1969.

Q2. What is the time period prescribed for reporting any birth or death?

Ans. The normal period prescribed for reporting any birth or death of 21 days (from the date of occurrence) has been prescribed for reporting birth, death and still birth events.

Q3. Is there any fee for the registration of births and deaths?

Ans. It depends, means if event of a birth or death is reported for registration to the prescribed authority within the normal period of 21 days, then no fee would be charged.

Q4. Whether the Birth certificate can be obtained without the name of the child?

Ans. Under the provision of Section 14 of the Act a birth certificate can be obtained without the name of the child because the custom of naming child in India is a lengthy process.

Q5. When the Regulation of Birth and Death Registration Act was enacted?

Ans. The Regulation of Birth and Death Registration was enacted on 31st May, 1969.