Madhya Pradesh High Court
Ku. Disha Agrawal Thr. Father Shri ... vs Central Board Of Secondary Education ... on 11 July, 2017
WP-632-2017
(KU. DISHA AGRAWAL THR. FATHER SHRI RAJEEV AGRAWAL Vs CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY
EDUCATION THR.)
11-07-2017
Shri Sanjay Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner.
Shri D.P. Singh, learned counsel for the respondent.
With the consent of learned counsel for the rival parties, the matter is heard finally.
By invoking extra ordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has sought indulgence of this Court for correction of the apparent error / spelling mistake crept in marksheet and migration certificate issued by the Board, wherein, application for correction has been wrongly rejected by the Board on the ground that correction in the name of candidate can be considered within one year from the date of declaration of the result while petitioner's application was not for correction of name, but for correction of spelling mistake in the surname as "Agrawal" in place of wrongly mentioned surname as "Agrwal".
It is submitted that petitioner has taken admission in class 6th in Model School, Bhind and in the admission form, the name of the petitioner was filled in as "Disha Agrawal" and name of petitioner's father was shown as Rajeev Agrawal. Earlier, petitioner studied in D.S.R. Memorial School, Bhind upto class 5th Standard, wherein, the name of the petitioner has been shown as "Disha Agrawal". In the Samagra ID of the petitioner and petitioner's family members, the name of petitioner is shown as "Disha Agrawal". Even in the Aadhar Card bearing No. 4588 7633 8571, the petitioner name is shown as "Disha Agrawal". In class 11th marksheet which was issued in the year 2015-16, the petitioner's name is shown as "Disha Agrawal". Thereafter, the petitioner appeared in class 12th examination and in the examination form and list prepared by the respondent-Board, the petitioner's name is shown as "Disha Agrawal". It is submitted that the petitioner appeared in 10th class examination conducted by respondent/Board in the academic year 2014-15. The result was declared in 2015, but in the marksheet and migration certificate there was spelling mistake in the surname of the petitioner instead of "Agrawal" it is shown as "Agrwal" which appears to be a typing mistake. The name of mother and father of the petitioner has been shown correctly in these certificates.
With a view to avoid future complications and the petitioner may not face any problem in her career, an application along with necessary documents was submitted to the Principal of Model School, Bhind which was forwarded to the respondent for correcting the spelling mistake. The application was sent to the respondent/Board by the Principal on 25/10/2016. The application of the petitioner was rejected by the respondent/Board vide letter dated 23/12/2016 (Annexure P/1) on the ground that as per amended rules 69.1 (ii) and 69.2 (iv), the application for correction in the name of the candidate will be considered only within one year from the date of declaration of the result and as the petitioner's application has not been submitted within one year, the same is rejected. In this backdrop, the petitioner has approached this Court seeking direction to the respondent/Board to correct the spelling mistake crept in the mark sheet as well as in migration certificate.
This Court issued notice on 27/01/2017. Shri D.P. Singh, Advocate appeared and accepted notice on behalf of the respondent / Board. Thereafter, time was sought to file reply on various occasion, but reply was not filed.
Learned counsel for the respondent Board has contended that the aforesaid correction in the surname of the petitioner is infact barred by time. He refers to clause 69.1 (ii) of the amended bye-laws which provides that application for correction in the name of Candidate/Father's/Mother's/Guardian's name will be considered within one year of the date of declaration of result provided that application of the candidate is forwarded by Head of the Institution along with necessary documents. It is further contended that in view of the amended bye- laws, no such correction is permitted. The petitioner had submitted application for correction in his surname after a period of one year, hence, no interference is warranted. In view of aforesaid bye-laws, the instant petition deserves to be dismissed.
True, it is that prayer for correction of surname of the petitioner in the mark-sheet and migration certificate issued to the petitioner for 10th standard, in strict sense, is not within the time stipulated under the aforementioned clause of examination bylaws, but looking to the fact that petitioner had filled up form of examination correctly and submitted to the school authorities but due to inadvertence /typing mistake the school authorities while forwarding the form to the respondent Board wrongly mentioned the surname of the petitioner as "Agrwal" instead of "Agrawal" for which petitioner cannot be made to suffer. Since, 10th class marksheet is the most authentic document of identity of the petitioner and cannot be doubted at any point of time. As already submitted, the surname of the petitioner has been mentioned as "Agrawal" in all the previous school records and certificates, therefore, bonafides of the petitioner in seeking correction in the surname based on conclusive evidence cannot be doubted. That apart, with variations in the certificate, petitioner may be exposed to unforeseen difficulties and complications. It may also cause serious prejudice to her future prospects in higher education and carrier pursuits.
Procedural laws, in the form of rules, regulating provision for correction of school certificates are hand made laws and in exceptional facts and circumstances may be read with concept of justice, equity and good conscience, for grant of equitable relief for correction of spelling mistake in surname based on authentic, conclusive and clinching evidence as it is well settled that Justice must not only be done but it must also be seen to have been done. No doubt, the application for correction in the surname of the petitioner has been submitted after lapse of one year.
Accordingly, this writ petition is allowed. Respondent/Board is commanded to correct the spelling mistake in the surname of the petitioner as "Agrawal" in place of wrongly mentioned surname as "Agrwal" in the 10th class marksheet as well as migration certificate within a period of four weeks from the date of submission of certified copy of this order passed today.
This order shall not be treated as a precedent.
There shall be no order as to costs.
(S.A. DHARMADHIKARI) JUDGE Durgekar