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Consequences of delay in getting death certificate

Introduction

Death as a topic can be dark and taboo to talk about. Most of us, never or hardly talk or think about it.
However, Covid-19 crisis has seen a surge of incidents of death and its subsequent events following up
in almost every person’s life, and when the lightning strikes, we are stunned, not knowing what to
do. This article discusses consequences in case of delay in registering the death certificate .

Birth, Still-Births, Death, Marriage, Divorce etc are all very important events in life, and directly impacts
the individual and social well-being.1 This data is crucial for governments too, to formulate their social
welfare policies.2 These registrations are civil in nature and are continuously maintained and are
compulsory and permanent in nature.

Earlier every province and state had their own system, and to ensure universality, uniformity and
compulsion a central Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD) Act, 1969, was passed, which came into
force from April 1st 1970. 3 Subsequently the Registrar General, India in consultation with the Union Law
Ministry, framed Model Rules (1970). A new revised rules came into force from 1 st Jan 2000, providing
the forms and procedures to be adopted for registration. 4 Subsequently the states, in accordance with
the Model Rules, made state rules to carry out the provisions of the RBD Act in the states.

Consequences of delay in getting a death certificate

Due to delayed registration of death certificates, the informer or the relatives, have to pay late fee, and
get an affidavit notarized from approved government officer, or get an order from a first class magistrate
after paying the late fees and giving all the evidence proof which are verified for their correctness. All
these can cause added mental agony to the already stressed individual and they have to run from pillar
to post. Also in cases where there is joint custody of property or succession issues, it gets delayed as
the cause of the death is not available due to a delayed death certificate. This certificate is required in all
documents establishing the relationship of the individual with the deceased, getting insurance from
insurance agencies, wills, probates, distribution of rights, establishing rights and liabilities, transfer of
shares , initiation of suits etc to name a few which all get halted due to delayed death certificate..

1, 2, 3 ,& 4
"TRAINING MANUAL for Civil Registration Functionaries in India”
" VisitOffice of the Registrar General, India Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India, New Delhi
, May & June 2012, https://bbmp.gov.in/citizenservisfaq/Birthanddeath.pdf

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 Establishing the identity of the individual, its medico socio legal status at the time of death, which helps
frame and implement welfare and social security public policies of the government. The government
and the authorities who collect the data for legal and statistical purposes have to delay their report or
give incorrect reports as the audit was incomplete as data were not received on time. There have been
instances during Covid-19 and also at other times, where the death certificate given were also not
mentioning the cause, instead giving the result such as death due to acute cardiac arrest, or some other
reason. This discrepancies will cause incorrect statistical data capture thereby not achieve the directive
principles of the constitution of India nor achieve the welfare state objectives , ever since our country
transitioned into a welfare state.

Case Laws citing delay in registering death certificates

6
Case Law 1 :-Paribrita Roy V/s The Kolkata Municipal Corporation; [Dec 8th 2016] Calcutta High Court;
Writ Petition No. 27789 (W)

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Section 13 of The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 does not deny a death certificate for delayed
communication of the cause of death or the cause of it but says that it can be registered on the order of
the court. 6 In the present case, the petitioner is wife of the deceased, wanted the The Kolkata
Municipal Corporation to issue a death certificate. Dr.Ranjit kumar Roy of Microlap hospital had issued a
medical certificate. The deceased was a Nigerian, and his mortal remains were ready to be transported
to Nigeria , and an NOC was given by West Bengal Govt and Nigerian Govt. but the Kolkata Municipal
Corporation denied having information for the same, stating his funeral was not conducted in the
jurisdiction of the corporation. Held:- Only death has to take place, no law requires funeral procession,
also the The NOC given by the West Bengal Govt. via the Additional Secretary proves that such
information was given by the petitioner and the doctor. The Law requires that only the death has to take
place in Kolkata to enable Kolkata Municipal Corporation to register it under 7sec 451 of the RBD Act
1969, and issue a certificate under 8 453(2). It is failure, lack of sense of duty and carelessness on part of
the Kolkata Municipal Corporation for the death to have been not registered, hence respondent is
ordered to immediately register the death and issue a death certificate

5
Section 13 of The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969
6
Paribrita Roy V/s The Kolkata Municipal Corporation; [Dec 8th 2016] Calcutta High Court; Writ
Petition No. 27789 (W)
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section 451 of The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969
8
section 453(2) of The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969
The above case is of a foreign national and still his widow was directed to be issued a death certificate,
hence any delay for deaths occurring in India for an Indian has to be registered at the earliest and
a Death Certificate has to be issued.

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Case Law 2 :-Smt Rukhsana and Oth V/s Supreme
Court of India [2000] 9 SCC 240

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The amount of 18,83,385/- was awarded as compensation of Mr Mohammed Jalaluddin who was
employed in Kuwait and died there. His widow Rukhsana and others and his mother made a claim. The
High Court directed them to produce a succession certificate, to the courts before which such claims
were made to determine the shares payable. Death Certificate is crucial to get a succession certificate
and delay in the same will delay such succession certificate, needed to distribute the claims. Held:-
Supreme Court disapproved that the Succession certificate has to be granted to debts or securities only
as per High Court, the compensation was not an asset, debt or security to which the deceased was
entitled, but an amount which the legal representative could claim on their own account. The civil court
will decide the legal representatives and distribute the shares as applicable. The parties to make an
application to concerned court for speedy disbursal.

The above case discloses the importance of death certificate (though indirectly) as the case speaks of
succession certificate, but to get a succession certificate or ascertaining the legal representatives, death
certificate is crucial. Any delay in issuing will delay the subsequent legal matters, and therefore if there is
no legal cause, unnecessary blocking or non-issuance must be avoided.

A loophole in the Indian Law

Although as per law the death certificate has to be issued at the place of death , there have been
instances where the concerned authorities like municipal corporations unnecessarily delay the issuance
stating flimsy grounds such as, funeral procession must happen followed by death in their jurisdiction.
Whatever be the reason for delay there is a late fee, all this is paid for no fault of the deceased family.
Also insurance money, other documents like succession certificates, which depend on death certificates
gets delayed due to the government machinery delaying it beyond 21 days thereby giving rise to
frivolous litigation or running from pillar to post to get work done, all of which promotes corruption.
Although the delay in genuine cases and procedure to follow is understandable, in its absence, it’s
nothing but a loophole (an opportunity for exploitation).

It is also noticed that the delay in issuing death certificates, will cause audit report delay thereby
manipulating the number of deaths registered in a particular period of time. Lets say , in a particular
month there are many deaths and they are reported late , then the policy makers will never know the
actual cause of such death as the statistics were delayed or averaged out and therefore the policies
could not be made and no work to mitigate the situation could be done. This may save the face of the
officials , but it will also not allow mitigation policies to be implemented if such things happen in
future.For eg, there were several deaths in the month of April and May 2021 due to covid-19, now if the
death certificates are delayed, the beneficiaries of government schemes will not be able to take benefit
in times of crises when they need it if there is insistence on death certificate. The documents collected
to issue the death certificate have legal and statistical columns which collect and collate the data of the
deceased, which gives information as to cause of death , his lifestyle habits , gender , family income and
others which are crucial for the policy administrators to formulate policies.

Conclusion

Thus we see, that post the death of the person , there are several steps to be performed , so that
accurate record is maintained for legal and statistical purpose. This report is registered by the
authorized registrar responsible right from local level and the report goes right up to central level and
also in the UN. This assists governments and intergovernmental institutions to formulate policies for the
welfare of the individuals. It is also vital information for individuals’ insurance, succession, probate
procedures. Any unnecessary or frivolous delay, will pave way for exploitation of the people and will be
against the welfare nature of the state.

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Smt Rukhsana and Oth V/s Supreme Court of India [2000] 9 SCC 240 ;
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9,&10 CASEMINE,Casemine.com/search/delay-in-death-certificatehttps://www.case-
mine.com/search/in/delayed%2Bdeath%2Bcertificate