M/L 12 02.02.2026 Court No.18 SD IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION WPA 10122 of 2024 Shuvojit Mitra @ Jagannath Mitra Vs. The State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Sudipto Panda Mr. Arkadipta Sengupta … for the Petitioner. Mr. Bhaskar Prasad Vaisya, Ld. AGP Mr. Ranjan Saha … for the State. Ms. Koyeli Bhattacharyya Mr. Bibek Dutta Mr. Manas Bhattacharya … for the WBBSE. 1. Exception by the petitioner to the report by the Board filed in Court today be retained with the records. 2. The petitioner is aggrieved by the communication made on August 3, 2022 requiring the petitioner to produce a birth certificate issued in his changed name for correction of his certificate issued by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in his Class-X examination. 3. The petitioner passed his board examination in the year 1994 with the name Jagannath Mitra. He intends to change his name from Jagannath Mitra to Shuvojit Mitra. He published a Gazette notification with his changed name in January 2020 and he prays for a direction upon the Board to change his name in his educational certificate relying on such Gazette notification. 2 4. The Board has refused to accept the prayer of the petitioner and has sought for a birth certificate in his changed name. The petitioner is aggrieved by the same. 5. Reliance has been placed on the judgment delivered by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on September 11, 2025 in WP (C) No. 21/2025 in the matter of Mohd. Hassan vs. UT of J&K and others reported in 2025 SCC OnLine J&K 937, paragraphs 14, 18 and 19 in particular. 6. It has been stressed that the Court held that the right to change the name has been declared as fundamental right and accordingly, the Board ought to permit the petitioner to change his name. 7. The aforesaid submission of the petitioner is opposed by the learned advocate representing the respondents. 8. Learned advocate representing the Board submits that the change can be made only if the petitioner provides the birth certificate with his changed name. 9. In Mohd. Hassan (supra), the Court in no uncertain terms held that normally no change in name, parentage, date of birth and other particulars registered with the Board is permissible. However, transcriptional or typographical error may be corrected. Where change in the registered particulars, 3 other than correction of typographical error is sought, the same is permissible only in case it is warranted. 10. In the instant case, the petitioner submits that he has already made the unnecessary changes in his PAN card, AADHAR card and voter card. Being an employee of a school he is not get his salary and cannot file his income tax return, if his changed name is not incorporated in the official records of the Board. 11. Upon hearing the submissions made on behalf of all the parties, it appears that the Board has not rejected the prayer of the petitioner for change of his name. The Board has sought for a supporting document relying on which the change may be effected. 12. It will be open for the petitioner to obtain a birth certificate in his changed name for making the necessary changes in his service records and in the records maintained by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. 13. The writ petition stands disposed of. 14. Parties to act on the basis of the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court. (Amrita Sinha, J.)