Can a son change his parents name after their death?

PANJIM: Can a son change his parents name after their death?

The Ministry of Law and Justice and Ministry of External Affairs,
Government of India, states, "There is no law under which any persons,
even the legal heirs of a deceased can change the name of a deceased.
Admittedly, a deceased person has throughout his life used the name,
which is sought to be changed, for official transactions during his
life period and now has legal heirs/ descendents can't for their
convenience, whatsoever, be allowed to change the name of the
deceased."

Upholding this stand of the Ministry of Law and Justice and Ministry
of External Affairs, even the Passport Officer, Panjim refuted
36-years-old John Michael Fortunato Fernandes argument to change the
name of his deceased parents.

When Michael applied for his first passport on June 18, 1990, he had
given his name as John Michael Fernandes and parent's name was given
as Sebastian and Lavina Fernandes. Later, in 1999, he again applied
for a new passport with the above names and also submitted a ration
card with the same names.

However, in 2005 he applied to the Passport department for a change of
name from John Michael Fernandes to John Michael Fortunato Fernandes
and also stated that his parents name be changed to Jose Florencio
Fernandes and Santana Carmelina Fernandes from Sebastian and Lavina
Fernandes. While the passport office changed his name in the passport,
they refused to change his parents' name.

Unhappy with this, Michael has now approached the Additional Sessions
Court, Panjim against the decision of the Passport officer. In his
suit for declaration and correction of name in the passport before
judge PV Kamat, when he desirous of proceeding abroad for employment
filed an application for passport and got a passport which allegedly
had wrongly incorporated his parents name as Sebastian and Lavina
Fernandes due to "typographical" error.

He further contended that based on the public documents (death
certificates), which are presumed to be true under the law, the
Passport Officer ought to have effected the necessary changes. The
counsel for the petitioner is BD Nazareth and the counsel for the
respondent is PG Narulkar.

However, the Passport office maintained that prima facie it appeared
impermissible since the same was sought to be done after the death of
the parents and even Goa Change of Nam and Surname doesn't permit it.
They added that Sebastian's moves clearly amount to act of
impersonation for reasons best known to the plaintiff.