- (1.) Taking suo motu cognizance of the news item relating to low rate of registration of births at 58% in the State of Jharkhand compared to National Level of 82%, this Court has taken this as Public Interest Litigation.
(2.) The said news item reported in the newspaper, "Times of India" dated 10th January, 2014 expressed concern over the difficulties in registering the child births and also suggested measures in developing the road map for achieving 100% registration and certification by the end of 2016.
(3.) In response to the notice, the respondent State has filed counter affidavit stating that from the year 2002 onwards, the level of registration of births in the State is increasing and in the year 2012, it was found to be 58.05%. It is stated that in furtherance of the recent communication dated 17.6.2014 of the office of the Registrar General of India, steps for the appointment of the Chief Registrar (Births and Deaths) in the State on par with the other States are under process. It is further stated that in compliance of Section 7(1) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, the officials, such as (i) Panchayat Sevak, (ii) Health Officer-in-charge of Municipal Corporation/Notified Area Committee (now Nagar Panchayat), (iii) Executive Officer/Special Officer of Local Bodies, (iv) Deputy Superintendents of Medical Colleges & Hospitals, (v) Deputy Superintendents of Sadar Hospitals/Sub-Divisional Hospitals/Medical Officers in Charge of Referral Hospitals, (vi) Medical Officers-in-charge of Primary Health Centres, (vii) Medical Officers-in-charge of Addl. Primary Health Centres (APHCs), (viii) Medical Officers-in-charge of Community Health Centres/Health Sub-Centres (CHCs & HSCs), (ix) Executive Officer of Cantonment Board, Ramgarh, (x) Senior Health Officer of Bokaro Steel Ltd., Bokaro, (xi) Medical Officer-in-charge of Border Security Force Centre Hospital, Meru, Hazaribagh, (xii) Estate Officer of Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) Hatia, Ranchi (Jagannathpur Area), (xiii) Registrar, Namkom Military Hospital, Namkom, Ranchi, have been notified by the Government of Jharkhand as Registrar (Births and Deaths) of local Registration Centres in the State.;