Gujarat High Court
Nainish Kirankumar Maheria vs Principal Image English School on 20 February, 2019
Author: Vipul M. Pancholi
Bench: Vipul M. Pancholi
C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 6339 of 2018
=======================================================
NAINISH KIRANKUMAR MAHERIA
Versus
PRINCIPAL IMAGE ENGLISH SCHOOL
=======================================================
Appearance:
MR RAMKRISHNA B DAVE(3404) for the PETITIONER Nos. 1,2
None for RESPONDENT NO.1
MR SHRUTI PATHAK AGP for the RESPONDENT(s) No. 2
=======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE VIPUL M. PANCHOLI
Date : 20/02/2019
ORAL ORDER
01. This petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, in which, the petitioners have prayed that the respondent no.1 be directed to correct the caste mentioned in Column No.3 of the school leaving certificates issued by the respondent no.1, which was issued in favour of the petitioners. It is further prayed that fresh school leave certificates, after making necessary correction, be issued to the petitioners.
02. Heard learned advocate, Mr. Ramkrishna Dave for the petitioners and learned AGP Ms. Shruti Pathak for the respondent no.2. Though served, no one appears for the respondent no.1.
Page 1 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER
03. It is submitted by learned advocate for the petitioners that the petitioners were born on 22.09.2001 and they were stuying in Image English School i.e. the respondent no.1 and the petitioner no.1 has been issued school leave certificate on 31.05.2017 on the ground "Appeared for SSC Exam March, 2017", whereas the petitioner no.2 has been issued school leaving certificate on 31.05.2015 on the ground "Passed and Promoted to Std. IX (Ninth)". It is submitted that the respondent no.1 has committed mistake in Column No.3 of the school leaving certificates that it is mentioned as "Hindu Maheria", which is surname of the petitioners and not a caste and in fact, the caste of the petitioner is "Hindu Rohit". Learned advocate for the petitioners has referred to the caste certificate issued by the competent authority in favour of the petitioners, which are produced at Page Nos.13 & 14 of the compilation and after referring to the said documents, it is submitted that in the said certificates, the caste of the petitioner is shown as "Hindu Rohit" and, therefore while issuing school leaving certificates by the respondent no.1 in favour of Page 2 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER the petitioners, it is wrongly mentioned in the column of caste of the petitioners as "Hindu Maheria".
04. Learned advocate for the petitioners submits that the representation was made by the father of the petitioners to the respondent no.1 for making necessary correction in the school leaving certificate, however, the said request was not accepted by the respondent no.1. It is submitted that on 13.11.2017, the respondent no.1 informed the father of the petitioners that as per direction of the DEO, Ahmedabad, the school authority has no power to make changes in the marksheet and school leaving certificate once the student has cleared board examination and, therefore, the petitioners have filed present petition.
05. Learned advocate for the petitioners submitted that though alternative remedy is available to the petitioners in view of the decision rendered by the Division Bench of this Court dated 24.11.2011 passed in Letters Patent Appeal No.239/2011 and the order dated 05.12.2018 passed in Special Civil Application No.4630/2018, this Court can entertain Page 3 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER the petition, which is filed under Section 226 of the Constitution of India and thereby necessary direction can be issued to the respondent authority.
06. On the other hand, learned AGP submitted that the petitioners are having alternative efficacious remedy of filing proceeding under Regulation 12A of the Gujarat Secondary Education Regulation before the concerned Magistrate Court for making necessary correction and, therefore, this petition may not be entertained. However, learned AGP is not in a position to dispute the fact that the competent authority has issued caste certificate to the petitioners, wherein the caste of the petitioners is mentioned as "Hindu Rohit".
07. I have considered the submissions canvassed by learned advocates for the petitioners and have also gone through the material produced on record. It is revealed from the material produced on record that the competent authority has issued caste certificate in favour of the petitioners, wherein the caste of the petitioners is mentioned as "Hindu Rohit", however, if the school leaving certificates issued by the respondent no.1 in Page 4 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER favour of the petitioners are examined, it is revealed that in Column No.3 of the school leaving certificates, it is mentioned as "Hindu Maheria"
but in fact, the name of the petitioners are mentioned as "Maheria Nainish Kirankumar" and "Maheria Nishita Kirankumar" respectively. Thus "Maheria" is the surname of the petitioners and, therefore, it appears that while issuing school leaving certificates, the respondent no.1 has mentioned the caste of the petitioners as "Hindu Maheria", however as stated hereinabove, the caste of the petitioner is "Hindu Rohit". Thus these are the undisputed facts and when the petitioners have produced on record the caste certificates issued by the competent authority in favour of the petitioners, this Court is of the opinion that the alternative remedy no bar in entertaining this petition in the facts of the present case.
08. This Court in the order dated 05.12.2018 passed in Special Civil Application No.4630/2018 has considered the decision rendered by the Division Bench of this Court as well as the orders passed by the learned Single Judge of this Court and, thereafter, issued necessary directions to the Page 5 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER concerned respondent authorities. Paragraph Nos.8, 9, 10 and 11 of the said order read as under,
8. At this stage, this Court would like to refer the observations made by the learned Single Judge of this Court in the order dated 09.10.2006 passed in Special Civil Application No.4337 of 2006, especially, Paragraph9 thereof, which reads as under: "9. Looking to the facts and circumstances of the case and, the Certificate issued under section 12 and 17 of The Registration of Birth and Death Act,1969 the prayer as prayed for is required to be granted since the documents at Annexure 'A' is a statutory Certificate, which has very high evidentiary value. So far as the facts, which are mentioned in the said Certificate at Annexure "A" reveal the date of birth of the petitioner as 28.08.1982. The details given in the Certificate have been recorded as per the statutory provision under the Act,1969. The date of birth mentioned in Annexure "A" ought to have been reflected in Certificate at Annexure "B" issued by the respondent No.2. The contention raised by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents that in pursuance of the Rule 12 of Gujarat Secondary Education Rules 1974, such amendment in the school leaving certificate is not permissible, once the student, present petitioner has left the school. This contention is not accepted by this Court mainly for the reason that errors are required to be corrected. The respondents are not error proof authorities. If the error has been accepted by the respondents denial of corrections of the documents is an arbitrary action. The only question, which is now left out is mandamus operandi for carrying out the corrections in school Page 6 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER leaving certificate. There can be several methods of corrections of school leaving certificate like direct correction in the school leaving certificate itself or by keeping the certified copy of birth registration certificate issued by the State of Gujarat under Sections 12 and 17 of the Registration of Birth and Death Act 1969, by the concerned school in their register and amended copy of school leaving certificate can be given to the petitioner or by putting notes in margin that this amendment in the birth date is carried out as per the certificate issued by the State Government, but, total denial by the concerned respondents that they shall not amend the school leaving certificate, despite the certificate of birth issued by the State of Gujarat tantamounts to violation of public duty and hence, writ of mandamus is issued upon the concerned respondents to carry out necessary amendment in school leaving certificate on the basis of document issued by the State of Gujarat namely the Birth Certificate issued under the Act, 1969. It is for the concerned respondent school to keep and preserve a certified/original of Annexure "A" in the school register and thereafter, they can issue the corrected copy of school leaving certificate by putting necessary notes in the margin. But the error has to be corrected by the concerned respondents authorities. There can not be any error, which can not be corrected. Rule made absolute to the aforesaid extent with no order as to costs."
9. Similar observations were also made in Paragraph8 of the order dated 13.02.2007 passed by the learned Single Judge in Special Civil Application No.3259 of 2007, which reads as under:
"8. Looking to the facts and Page 7 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER circumstances of the case and the Certificate issued under Sections 12 and 17 of the Act, the prayer as prayed for is required to be granted since the document at Annexure 'A' is a statutory Certificate, which has very high evidentiary value. So far as the facts, which are mentioned in the said Certificate at Annexure "A" reveals the date of birth of the petitioner is 1212 1976. The details given in the Certificate have been recorded as per the statutory provision under the Act. The date of birth mentioned in Annexure 'A' ought to have been reflected in Certificate at Annexure "B" issued by the respondent No.4. The contention raised by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents that in pursuance of the Rule 12 of the Gujarat Secondary Education Rules, 1974, such amendment in the School Leaving Certificate is not permissible, once the student, present petitioner has left the school. This contention is not accepted by this Court mainly for the reason that errors are required to be corrected. The respondents are not error proof authorities. If the error has been accepted by the respondents, denial of corrections of the documents is an arbitrary action. The only question which is now left out is mandamus operandi for carrying out the corrections in the School Leaving Certificate. There can be several methods of corrections of School School Certificate like direct corrections in the School Leaving Certificate itself or by keeping the certified copy of birth registration certificate issued by the State of Gujarat under Sections 12 and 17 of the Act, by the concerned School in their register and amended copy of School Leaving Certificate can be given to the petitioner or by putting notes in margin that this amendment in the birth date is carried out as per the certificate issued by the State Government, but, total denial by the concerned respondents that they Page 8 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER shall not amend the School Leaving Certificate, despite the certificate of birth issued by the State of Gujarat tantamounts to violation of public duty and hence, writ of mandamus is issued upon the concerned respondents to carry out necessary amendment in School Leaving certificate on the basis of documents issued by the State of Gujarat, namely, the Birth Certificate issued under the Act. It is for the concerned respondent school to keep and preserve a certified/original of Annexure A in the School Register and thereafter, they can issue the corrected copy of School Leaving Certificate by putting necessary notes in the margin. But the error has to be corrected by the concerned respondents authorities. There cannot be any error, which can not be corrected."
10. Similarly, in the another petition being Special Civil Application No.8236 of 2006, vide order dated 05.05.2006, this Court disposed of the said petition, while giving directions to the concerned authority in Paragraphs8 and 9, which read as under:
"8. Looking to the facts and circumstances of the case and, the Certificate issued under section 12 and 17 of The Registration of Birth and Death Act,1969 the prayer is given required to be granted since the docuemtns at Annexure 'A' is a statutory Certificate, which has very high evidentiary value. So far as the facts, which are mentioned in the said Certificate at Annexure "A" reveals the date of birth of the petitioner is 20.11.1981. The details given in the Certificate have been recorded as per the statutory provision under the Act,1969. The date of birth mentioned in Annexure "A" ought to have been reflected in Page 9 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER Certificate at Annexure "B" issued by the respondent No.2.
9. Accordingly the respondent Nos. 2 is directed to make necessary changes in their records and Certificate, as stated hereinabove showing the correct date of birth of petitioner as 20.11.1981 instead of 20.11.1979. This exercise shall be done on before 19.05.2006. D.S. Permitted. Rule made absolute to the aforesaid extent."
11. The Division Bench of this Court in the order dated 24.11.2011 passed in Letters Patent Appeal No.239 of 2011, even after considering the provisions of alternative remedy under the concerned regulation, observed in Paragraph11 as under:
"11. This Court is, therefore, left with two alternatives, first being that to relegate the appellant to the Civil Court for pursuing his cause while setting aside the order impugned and secondly, to set aside the order impugned and, instead of insisting the appellant to pursue alternative remedy, exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and to issue a direction to the school authorities for making necessary correction, particularly when there is no dispute about the genuineness of the certificate of birth and the date of birth indicated therein. In our view, a citizen need not be made to run from pillar to post for such a genuine and petty cause and we deem it proper to opt for the second alternative in the peculiar facts of this case."
09. Thus keeping in view the aforesaid decision rendered by the Division Bench as well as the order passed by this Court, it can be said that Page 10 of 11 C/SCA/6339/2018 ORDER though the student has passed SSC examination, this Court can give direction to make necessary changes in the school leaving certificate with regard to the correction of date of birth or the caste if the facts are undisputed. Thus in view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, when the school leaving certificates are issued by the competent authority in favour of the petitioners, wherein the caste is wrongly mentioned, direction can be issued to the authority for making necessary correction.
10. Therefore, the respondent no.1 is hereby directed to make necessary correction in the school leaving certificates of the petitioners by correcting the caste from "Hindu Maheria" to "Hindu Rohit" and issue fresh school leaving certificates to the petitioners. Such exercise shall be carried out within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of this order.
11. With the aforesaid observation and direction, the present petition stands allowed to the aforesaid extent. Direct service is permitted.
(VIPUL M. PANCHOLI, J.) Gautam Page 11 of 11