- It shall be the duty of the father or the mother of every child born within the municipal area or, in default of the father or the mother, of any relation of the child living in the same premises or, in default of such relation, of the person having charge of the child to give, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief to the officer empowered in a municipal area in this behalf, within [twenty-one days] [Substituted by the West Bengal Act 22 of 2000. w.e.f. 1.9.2000 for 'eight days'.] of such birth, information containing such particulars as may be [required under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969:] [Substituted by ibid, w.e.f. 1.9.2000 for 'prescribed'.]Provided that -(a)in the case of an illegitimate child, no person shall, as father of such child, be required to give any information under this Act containing the particulars of birth of such child, and the officer empowered under this section shall not enter in the register the name of any person as father of such child except at the joint request of the mother and of the person acknowledging himself to be the father of such child; and such person shall, in such case, sign the register together with the mother :(b)a person required to give information only in default of some other person shall not be bound to give such information if he believed and had reasonable grounds for believing that such information had been given;(c)when a child is born in a hospital or a nursing home or a maternity home, none but the officer-in-charge thereof shall be bound to forward forthwith to the officer empowered under this section a report of such birth in such time and in such form as may, from time to time, be specified by the State Government.
