GEORGE TOWN: A advertising and marketing manager from Penang has gained a suit against the federal government after his request to change his name was rejected.
The High Court right here dominated in favour of Goeswami Deva Singh A/L Bajan Singh, 40, who needed to drop “A/L Bajan Singh” and add “Kairon”, a household surname, final November.
The nationwide registration division (JPN) denied his request when he went to switch his MyKad. Goeswami then filed a judicial assessment utility against the JPN director-general and the federal government.
Goeswami sought a number of authorized cures: a declaration of his new name; an order to quash JPN’s rejection; an order for the authorities to problem a brand new MyKad; and to register his new most popular name.
Justice Quay Chew Soon granted all of the cures sought in a web-based listening to at present, with no order as to prices.
Goeswami, who works for an electronics agency in Germany, took half within the on-line listening to.
Quay mentioned JPN’s choice to reject the name change was “unjustified and irrational”, and agreed with the submissions made by Goeswami’s lawyer, Shamsher Singh Thind.
Shamsher, in his submissions, mentioned JPN’s rejection violated Goeswami’s basic proper to freedom of expression as assured by Article 10(1)(a) of the Federal Constitution.
He additionally mentioned Goeswami’s name change didn’t contain a change of faith however was a private choice to undertake a surname as a substitute of his father’s name.
Shamsher had argued that the preliminary utility for the name change was submitted in November 2023 and regardless of complying with the required legal guidelines, his consumer’s request was denied with no correct rationalization.
JPN, in its defence, mentioned it rejected the applying as there was an absence of supporting paperwork since Goeswami’s dad and mom and siblings didn’t carry the Kairon name as a household surname.
In an affidavit, JPN director-general Badrul Hisham Alias mentioned there was additionally no proof of the Kairon household name on Goeswami’s delivery certificates and the burden of proof fell on the applicant.
“As an analogy, if an individual desires to change his gender from a person to a girl, however has not proven any doc to assist an inexpensive change within the individual’s gender, then such an utility is just not merited ab initio (from the onset) and must be rejected outright by JPN,” Badrul mentioned.
In response, Goeswami mentioned Badrul’s analogy “didn’t make sense”.
“I’m not making use of to change my surname (like I’d if I used to be altering my gender). I’m making use of to switch my father’s name with my surname.”
In reply to the division’s claims, Shamsher mentioned JPN acquired Goeswami’s utility final November with out speaking the necessity for supporting paperwork.
He mentioned Goeswami was solely advised concerning the want for supporting paperwork in JPN’s defence of the suit.
Shamsher mentioned Goeswami’s utility shouldn’t have been accepted by JPN if it was deemed incomplete with no supporting doc.
He mentioned there aren’t any legal guidelines prohibiting the name change besides within the case of avoiding detection by authorities. He mentioned his consumer’s utility ought to have been processed with out scrutiny except explicitly prohibited by the regulation.
Federal counsel Nordiyanasari Omar appeared for JPN and the federal government.
