PUTRAJAYA: A 50-year-old Muslim convert has failed in his appeal to compel the National Registration Department (NRD) to reinstate his birth name on his identity card.
The Court of Appeal, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel comprising Justices Datuk Supang Lian, Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah and Datuk Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab, upheld the High Court’s dismissal of his judicial review application.
Delivering the court’s judgment, Justice Sequerah held that Regulation 14(2A) of the National Registration Regulations 1990 does not permit the reversion to the original name once a new name has been lawfully assumed.
“The name change is made because the person making the application has absolutely renounced and abandoned the use of his original name and assumed a new name,” he said, adding that the law envisages a change of name but not a reversion to the original name.
He stated that the court was of the view that there are compelling public policy considerations as to why the law permits a change of name but does not contemplate a reversion to the original name once a new name has been lawfully adopted.
The 28-page grounds of judgment dated yesterday were uploaded to the judiciary’s website today.
The man, who embraced Islam in 2005 and adopted a Muslim name following his conversion, claimed he was denied entry into India in 2016 despite travelling with a Malaysian passport bearing his Muslim name.
He claimed Indian immigration authorities refused entry on the grounds that he had previously entered the country under his original Hindu name, resulting in his deportation to Malaysia.
He then applied for a new passport using his birth name, but the application was rejected by the Immigration Department as his identity card still bore his Muslim name.
Subsequently, he applied to have his current name in his identity card changed back to his original name, but the application was rejected by the NRD director-general in December 2021.
This led to him filing for a judicial review in the High Court, naming the NRD director-general and the Government of Malaysia as respondents, seeking a mandamus order compelling the NRD to amend and re-register his birth name in his identity card.
He argued that he faced complications arising from the presence of two different names in his previous passport, which led to his denial of entry into India.
He further submitted that he owns immovable properties abroad registered under his original name, which may give rise to confusion when dealing with foreign authorities due to the inconsistencies between the names in his identity card, passport and other official documents.
The NRD director-general maintained that the application could not be approved under Regulation 14(2A) of the National Registration Regulations 1990, which does not permit a reversion to a name that has been lawfully renounced.
On Nov 20, 2023, the High Court dismissed the man’s judicial review application, upholding the NRD’s decision to reject the request for a name amendment.
