Delhi District Court
Mohd. Chand vs Central Board Of Secondary Education on 31 March, 2023
IN THE COURT OF MS. SHUBHI GUPTA
CIVIL JUDGE ( East), KKD COURTS, DELHI
CS No. 1046/17
Date of Institution of suit : 20.12.2017
Date of reservation of Judgment : 20.03.2023
Date of pronouncement of Judgment : 31.03.2023
Mohd. Chand
S/o Ajadar Hussain
R/o E-19, Gali No. 3,
Shastri Park, Garhi Mendu
North East, Delhi-110053 ............Plaintiff
versus
1.Central Board of Secondary Education and others through its Secretary Regional office CBSE PS-1-2, institutional area, I.P. Extension, 3rd floor, Patparganj, Delhi 2. Ramjas Senior Sec. School No. 3 Raikedarnath Marg, Kucha Natwa Chandanni Chowk, Delhi-110006 ..........Defendants SUIT FOR DECLARATION AND MANDATORY INJUNCTION
1. Vide this judgment I shall decide a suit for declaration and mandatory injunction.
Brief facts of the plaint:
2. The brief facts of the plaint as alleged by the plaintiff in the plaint which are necessary for the disposal of the CS No.1046/17 Mohd Chand Vs. CBSE 1/8 suit are that the plaintiff is a law abiding and peace loving citizen. It is stated that plaintiff has passed out his 10th class in the year 2014 and his 12th class in the year 2016 from the school of defendant no. 2 and Board of defendant no. 1 having roll nos. 8658696 and 9646713 respectively. It is further stated that the plaintiff's father name is written as Ajuba in his class 10 th and 12th documetns while the name of father of petitioner is Ajadar Hussain. It is further stated that the plaintiff's father name is wrongly mentioned in his documents i.e. marksheet etc. due to the same he is facing hardship as his father is carrying his name as Ajadar Hussain in his relevant records. It is further stated that the plaintiff has visited to the defendants on many of the occasions but the officials of the defendants, particularly defendant no. 1 flatly refused to carry out the requisite corrections/rectification in the name of the plaintiff's father in his 10th and 12th class records. The plaintiff has got published his abovesaid contention in national daily newspaper Rashtriya Sahara dated 13.12.2017. Plaintiff now seeks to change his father's name from Ajuba to Ajadar Hussain.
3. Written statement on behalf of defendant no. 1 The defendant no. 1 filed written statement controverting the claim of the plaintiff while contending that the suit of the plaintiff is not maintainable. It is stated that CBSE frames its own rules and is governed by them and CBSE discharging the functions of conducting examination prescribing educational courses and generally maintaining the standards school education and advising the Government of India when CS No.1046/17 Mohd Chand Vs. CBSE 2/8 called upon to do so, on matters pertaining to school education. The CBSE frames its own rules and is governed by them. The CBSE can only change the name of the plaintiff and this directorate has nothing to do in this matter. It is further stated that the suit of the plaintiff is beyond the period of limitation. It is further stated that no cause of action has arisen in favour of the plaintiff and the suit is liable to be dismissed u/o 7 Rule 11 CPC. All the averments in the plaint are denied by the defendant no. 1.
4. Replication On Behalf Of The Plaintiff Plaintiff filed replication to the written statement of the defendants, wherein, he has reaffirmed and reiterated the contents of the plaint and has denied the contents of the written statement. On the basis of the pleadings of the parties, following issues have been framed for trial on dated 03.05.2018.
5. ISSUES On the pleadings of the parties, following issues were framed by Ld. Predecessor vide order dated 03.05.2018.
1. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to decree of declaration as prayed? OPP
2. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to decree of mandatory injunction as prayed? OPP
3. Relief.
6. PLAINTIFF'S EVIDENCE CS No.1046/17 Mohd Chand Vs. CBSE 3/8 Plaintiff has examined himself in his evidence as PW-1 whose examination in chief is by way of affidavit Ex. PW- 1/A. PW-1 relied upon the following documents:
(i) Ex. PW-1/1 (OSR) : Copy of 10th class
marksheet.
(ii) Ex. PW-1/2 (OSR) : Copy of 12th class
marksheet.
(iii) Ex. PW-1/3 (OSR) : Copy of Aadhar
Card.
(iv) Mark A : Copy of Aadhar card
of plaintiff's father
Sh. Ajadar Hussain.
7. My observation on the above issues as follow:
Both the issues are taken up together.
(i) Whether the plaintiff is entitled to decree of declaration as prayed? OPP
(ii) Whether the plaintiff is entitled to decree of mandatory injunction as prayed? OPP The onus to prove these issues was upon the plaintiff.
Vide judgment of Jigya Yadav Vs. CBSE 2021 SCC Online SC 415, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that right to change the name is a facet of the fundamental right as granted under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India and cannot be denied the right can be exercised in the manner prescribed in the directions as contained in paragraph 171 and 172 of the Judgment of Jigya Yadav (supra) which is reproduced as below:
CS No.1046/17 Mohd Chand Vs. CBSE 4/8 "171. As regards request of "change" of particulars in the certificate issued by the CBSE, it presupposes that the particulars intended to be recorded in the CBSE certificate are not consistent with the school records. Such a request could be made in two different situations. The first is on the basis of public documents like Birth Certificate, Aadhaar Card/Election Card, etc. and to incorporate change in the CBSE certificate consistent therewith. The second possibility is when theh request for change is due to the acquired name by choice at a later point of time. That change need not be backed by public documents pertaining to the candidate.
(a) Reverting to the first category, as noted earlier, there is a legal presumption in relation to the public documents as envisaged in the 1872 Act. Such public documents, therefore, cannot be ignored by the CBSE. Taking note of those documents, the CBSE may entertain the request for recording change in the certificate issued by it. This, however, need not be unconditional, but subject to certain reasonable conditions to be fulfilled by the applicant as may be prescribed by the CBSE, such as, of furnishing sworn affidavit containing declaration and to indemnify the CBSE and upon payment of prescribed fees in lieu of administrative expenses. The CBSE may also insist for issuing Public Notice and publication in the Official Gazette before recording the change in the fresh certificate to be issued by it upon surrender/return of the original certificate (or duplicate original certificate, as the case may be) by the applicant. The fresh certificate may contain disclaimer and caption/annotation against the original entry (except in respect of change of name CS No.1046/17 Mohd Chand Vs. CBSE 5/8 effected in exercise of right to be forgotten) indicating the date on which change has been recorded and the basis thereof. In other words, the fresh certificate may retain original particulars while recording the change along with caption/annotation referred to above (except in respect of change of name effected in exercise of right to be forgotten).
(b) However, in the latter situation where the change is to be effected on the basis of new acquired name without any supporting school record or publicdocument, that request may be entertained upon insisting for prior permission/declaration by a Court of law in that regard and publication in the Official Gazette including surrender/return of original certificate(or duplicate original certificate, as the case may be) issued by CBSE and upon payment of prescribed fees. The fresh certificate as in other payment of prescribed fees. The fresh certificate as in other situations referred to above, retain the original entry (except in respect of change of name effected in exercise of right to be forgotten) and to insert caption/annotation indicating the date on which it has been recorded and other details including disclaimer of CBSE. This is so because the CBSE is not required to adjudicate nor has the mechanism to verify the correctness of the claim of the applicant.
172. In light of the above, in exercise of our plenary juridiction, we direct the CBSE to process the applications for correction or change, as the case may be, in the certificate issued by it in the respective cases under consideration. Even other pending applications and future applications for such request be processed on the same lines and in particular the conclusion and CS No.1046/17 Mohd Chand Vs. CBSE 6/8 directions recorded hitherto in paragraphs 170 and 171, as may be applicable, until amendment of relevant Byelaws. Additionally, the CBSE shall take immediate steps to amend its relation Byelaws so as to incorporate the stated mechanism for recording correction or change, as the case may be, in the certificates already issued or to be issued by it."
In view of the law as laid down in the judgment of Jigya Yadav (supra) the stand taken by the defendant no. 1 wholly untenable and the same militates against the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the aforementioned judgment.
The plaintiff is, therefore, directed to move an appropriate application if no application has been moved by the plaintiff till date along with the documents including the Aadhar Card and the PAN card before the CBSE. On receiving such application, the defendant no. 1 is directed to carry out the desired change in the name of the father of the plaintiff in the marksheet and certificate within 8 weeks from the date of filing of the application. The plaintiff shall, thereupon, be entitled to file the application before defendant no. 2 along with original records who shall also make the necessary corrections in the educational certificates/records issued to the plaintiff in light of the said fresh certificate issued by the defendant no. 1.
8. Relief The suit of the plaintiff is decreed, therefore, the defendants are directed to correct the name of the father of the plaintiff from Ajuba to Ajadar Hussain in the light of the judgment Jigya Yadav (supra). Defendant no. 1 is also directed to CS No.1046/17 Mohd Chand Vs. CBSE 7/8 issue fresh academic document to the plaintiff in consonance with the corrected name of the father of the plaintiff.
Decree Sheet be prepared accordingly.
File be consigned to Record Room after due compliance.
(this order contains 08 pages and each page has been signed by me.) Pronounced in open court on 31.03.2023 (Shubhi Gupta) Civil Judge(East)/KKD Courts CS No.1046/17 Mohd Chand Vs. CBSE 8/8