Bengaluru: For 15-year-old Anushka Kulkarni, a routine admission process for Class 10 led to a legal battle to correct a clerical error in official records. The mistake — listing her mother’s name as ‘Jayashree’ instead of ‘Yankamma’ — had gone unnoticed for years, quietly embedded in her birth certificate and school documents.When authorities refused to amend the records without a court order, the family went to court. On July 5, the VI Additional City Civil and Sessions Court in Bengaluru ruled in Anushka’s favour. The court directed BBMP, education department, and her school, VLS Vidyasagar in Kamakshipalya, to correct the name in all official documents.Anushka, currently a Class 9 student, first discovered the discrepancy in May 2025 while applying for Class 10 admission. Although her birth was registered with the BBMP in March 2010 and the certificate issued in Feb 2014, it carried the wrong name of her mother. That error was then replicated in her school records.Her parents, Prahalad Rao and Yankamma, said they were unaware of the mistake until recently. When they approached BBMP, the Block Education Officer (BEO), and the school to correct it, officials insisted that a civil court order was necessary, which is the procedure. On Feb 20, the family sent legal notices to all concerned departments. After receiving no response, they filed a civil suit on March 11, 2025.In court, the defendants — including the secretary, education department, the BEO, BBMP commissioner, and the school headmaster — argued that the records were based on information provided by the family at the time of registration.They also claimed that the suit was barred by limitation since the error had existed for 15 years. The BBMP added that the case should be dismissed for failing to meet procedural conditions under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act and the Civil Procedure Code.However, the court rejected all objections. Judge Ganapati Gurusidda Badami held that the parents became aware of the error only in May 2025 during the Class 10 admission process, making that the “date of knowledge” for limitation purposes.The court also noted that the plaintiff had issued proper legal notices to all defendants and had sufficient proof of the mother’s correct name. Documents such as the mother’s SSLC marks card from 2002, PAN card, and Aadhaar card all listed her as ‘Yankamma’.In his order, the judge stated: “Plaintiff has proved that her mother’s name is Yankamma and it is wrongly mentioned as Jayashree in the birth certificate.” The court described the mistake as clerical and unintentional and said the child should not suffer for it.The court decreed a mandatory injunction, requiring the BBMP, the education department, and the school to update the mother’s name in both the birth certificate and Anushka’s academic records.
