PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has granted the National Registration Department (NRD) leave to appeal against a ruling that allowed a Muslim child conceived out of wedlock to carry the father’s name instead of ‘Abdullah’. The first question was whether in carrying out the registration of Muslim children, the registrar of birth and death may refer to and rely on sources of Islamic law on legitimacy. Senior Federal Counsel Suzana Atan acted for the Government, while lawyer K. Shanmuga represented a couple and their son who filed the judicial review. On May 25, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal brought by the couple and their son, who had filed a judicial review to compel the NRD director-general to replace the child’s surname ‘Abdullah’ with the name of the child’s father in the birth certificate. The court had held that a fatwa had no force of law and could not form the legal basis for the NRD director-general to decide on the surname of an illegitimate child under Section 13A (2) of the BDRA.

Source: The Star September 08, 2017 03:02 UTC