CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has held that once a person’s gender and name have been lawfully changed and recognised under statutory provisions, the same must be reflected in all official records, including property documents.
The single judge bench of Justice AC Behera gave the ruling while directing the state authorities to correct Agastya Das’ gender and name in a land mutation certificate. The petitioner approached the court seeking a direction to the authorities to change his name and gender in a mutation certificate issued by the director of Estate, General Administration department.
The certificate had recorded him as Swagatika Das, the granddaughter. The case arose from a mutation order dated July 22, 2021, by which a plot of land measuring 1/12th of an acre at Mouza-Goutam Nagar, Unit-VIII, Bhubaneswar was mutated in favour of the legal heirs of the deceased lessee Santwana Das, including the petitioner.
Subsequently, the petitioner was diagnosed with gender dysphoric syndrome and underwent gender reassignment procedures, including laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy with bilateral salphingo oopherectomy and SRS stage-I bilateral mastectomy and nac grafting at a Chennai clinic. After the successful medical intervention, his gender was changed from female to male.
Relying on section 7 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and Rule-6 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020, the petitioner applied to the district magistrate, Cuttack. After due enquiry, the district magistrate issued a certificate and identity card recognising the petitioner as Agastya Das with gender as male, entitling him to change his name and gender in all official documents. Accordingly, his PAN card, passport and Aadhaar card were updated. He also issued a Gazette notification and newspaper publication on November 2, 2023.
However, his representation dated September 19, 2025, seeking correction in the mutation certificate was not accepted, prompting him to move the high court. Allowing the petition, Justice Behera observed that when the petitioner has been lawfully recognised as male and as Agastya Das in official records, there was no justification to deny similar correction in the mutation certificate.
The judge directed the authorities, particularly the director of Estate, to change the petitioner’s name from Swagatika Das to Agastya Das and his status from granddaughter to grandson within 15 days of production of the certified copy of the judgement.