Registrar General agrees to accept father’s nationality as ‘Sri Lankan’ after two years

Since the nationality of the father was mentioned as ‘Sri Lankan’ in a document for registration of a birth, a Registrar General who refused to register the birth has agreed at the Appeal Court yesterday (10) after more than two years since the registration was due, to accept it.

Attorney-at-Law Rajika Aluvihare representing the Registrar General when a Writ Petition filed by the child’s father against the refusal to register the child’s birth certificate was taken up for hearing, announced that the Registrar General would accept the nationality as ‘Sri Lankan.’This petition was taken up for hearing in the presence of Appeal Court Judge Lafar Tahir.

President’s Counsel Romesh De Silva who represented the petitioner said that registering a child born in this country at the relevant Divisional Secretariat Division, is a responsibility of the duty of a Registrar General. He pointed out that the Registrar had no right to refuse to register the child’s birth just because the father’s nationality was declared as Sri Lankan.

He further said that,instead of narrowly interpreting a child born in this country as Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim, it is necessary to give a broad interpretation to the term race. State Counsel Rajika Aluvihare represented the Attorney General in this case.