Delhi District Court
Sh. Arjun Rawat vs Central Board Of Secondary Education on 27 September, 2022
IN THE COURT OF SH. MANOJ KUMAR, SENIOR CIVIL JUDGE-CUM-
RENT CONTROLLER (EAST), KARKARDOOMA COURT: DELHI
CNR No.DLET03-001333-2017
CS No.: 714/17
Sh. Arjun Rawat
S/o Col. Sanjay Rawat (Retd.)
B-703, NPSC Society,
Sector-2, Plot - 5, Dwarka,
New Delhi-110075
.........Plaintiff
Versus
Central Board of Secondary Education,
Through its Chairman
Shiksha Kendra, 2, Community Centre,
Preet Vihar, Delhi-110092
......... Defendant
Date of Institution : 01.09.2017
Date of reserving of judgment : 27.09.2022
Date of pronouncement of Judgment : 27.09.2022
Suit for Mandatory Injunction and Declaration.
JUDGMENT
1. By this judgment, the court shall decide the present suit.
2. Succinctly stated, the case of the plaintiff is that father of the plaintiff was serving as a Captain of the Indian Army and was posted in Dibrugarh, Assam. Plaintiff got admitted in St. Josephs Boys's School, Khadki, Pune, Maharashtra-411003 as the petitioner's father was posted at Khadki CS No. 714/17 Arjun Rawat Vs. CBSE Page 1 of 11 Cantonment at that time. The petitioner's date of birth was inadvertently entered as 27.06.1991. However, the correct date of birth of petitioner is 27.12.1990. The said lacuna got carried forward in every subsequent school record as the admission in the next school was done on the basis of transfer certificate of the preceding school The secondary school examination (class X) result reflected the same flawed date of birth from the records of Sunflag School, Bhandara Road, Warthi, Bhandara, Maharashtra which was the school from where petition appeared for said examination.
3. It is stated that father of the petitioner is a disabled soldier who retired from the Indian Army last year and has settled down in Delhi. He is in a poor state of health and is under treatment in Apollo Hospital and R&R Army Hospital. It is further stated that father of the petitioner approached the CBSE to try to rectify the date of birth of petitioner whereby he was informed that the CBSE entertains such requests only within a year of passing out of the candidates, so, petitioner's request to rectify the date of birth in the CBSE records was turned down.
4. It is stated that petitioner is an engineer by qualification, is now preparing for UPSC examination and the above mentioned mismatch in date of birth in his school/college records and his actual date of birth on birth certificate would create unnecessary confusion.
CS No. 714/17 Arjun Rawat Vs. CBSE Page 2 of 11
5. Thus, on the above stated grounds, plaintiff has prayed for a decree of mandatory injunction in favour of plaintiff and against the defendant thereby directing the defendant for correction in date of birth of plaintiff as 27.12.1990 in their records. Plaintiff has also prayed for a decree of declaration in favour of plaintiff and against the defendants thereby declaring the date of birth of plaintiff as "27.12.1990" for further record of defendant.
6. The defendant no.1 filed written statement (WS) to the plaint, interalia contending that the Central Board of Secondary Education is a Society which was created pursuant to Government Notification. It is stated that CBSE also known as CBSE is an autonomous society, which is fully self- financed. It is stated that C.B.S.E frames its own rules and is governed by them. C.B.S.E has its rules and regulations regarding change of name/candidate father name/candidate mother name. It is further stated that the suit of the plaintiff is not tenable in view of the amended Rule 69.1 (i) of the Examination By-Laws of the Central Board of Secondary Education. It is stated that no change in the date of birth once recorded in the Board's records shall be made. However, corrections to correct typographical and other errors to make the certificate consistent with the school records can be CS No. 714/17 Arjun Rawat Vs. CBSE Page 3 of 11 made provided that corrections in the school records should not have been made after the submission of application form for admission to Examination to the Board. It is further stated that such correction in date of birth of a candidate in case of genuine clerical errors will be made under orders of the Chairman where it is established to the satisfaction of the Chairman that the wrong entry was made erroneously in the list of candidates/application form of the candidate for the examination. Ld. Counsel for the defendant relied upon the judgment of Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in "Paramjeet Kaur Vs. CBSE" WP(C) 3484/2008. It is further stated that plaintiff has filed the present suit without any cause of action and as such, the same is liable to be dismissed under Order VII Rule 11 CPC.
7. Admission denial of documents conducted. Two documents of the plaintiff have been admitted by the counsel for the defendant and the same marked as mark-A1 to A-2. One document of the defendnat (nnotification dated 01.02.2018) has been admitted by counsel for plaintiff. The said document is marked as mark-A3.
8. The plaintiff has filed rejoinder to the written statement filed by the defendant.
CS No. 714/17 Arjun Rawat Vs. CBSE Page 4 of 11 Issue no. (i) and (ii)
1. Whether plaintiff is entitled to decree of declaration, as prayed for ? OPP
2. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to decree of mandatory injunction, as prayed for ? OPP EVIDENCE:
9. In order to prove the case, Sh. Arjun Rawat was examined PW1. He tender his evidence by way of affidavit which is Ex.PW1/1 bears his signature at point 'A' and 'B'. He relied upon documents which are as under :-
1. The copy of date of birth of PW1 issued by Municipal Board, Dibrugarh, Assam is Ex.PW1/A.
2. The copy of date of birth certificate issued by hospital is marked as mark- A (de-exhibited as Ex.PW1/B)
3. The copy of marksheet of class X issued on 27.05.2006 is Ex.PW1/C.
4. The copy of disability certificate of his father Col. Sanjay Rawat is marked as mark-B (Ex.PW1/D is accordingly de-exhibited).
10. Vide order dated 10.02.2020, PW2 Col. Sanjay Rawat was dropped from the list of witnesses.
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11. The plaintiff's evidence was closed on 28.03.2022. The defendant has not led their evidence in his defence and their DE was closed on 28.03.2022. The entire record is carefully perused.
APPRECIATION OF EVIDENCE AND LEGAL POSITION:
12. The Issue-wise findings are as under:-
Issue no. (i) and (ii)
1. Whether plaintiff is entitled to decree of declaration, as prayed for ? OPP
2. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to decree of mandatory injunction, as prayed for ? OPP
13. Both these issues are interconnected, hence this Court shall discuss and decide them together. The onus to prove both these issues was upon the plaintiff.
14. PW1 has proved the birth certificate which is exhibited as Ex..PW1/A. The same has been admitted by the defendant also. Ex.PW1/A is the birth certificate issued by the Government of Assam, Department of Health Services, Municipal Board Dibrugarh. Ex.PW1/A shows the name of the plaintiff and his date of birth as 27.12.1990. Plaintiff also filed the copy of CS No. 714/17 Arjun Rawat Vs. CBSE Page 6 of 11 birth certificate issued by 162, Military Hospital. However, original has not been proved on record and the copy is marked as mark-A. It shows that a male child was born to Aloka Rawat and Sanjay Rawat on 27.12.1990.
15. Plaintiff in his cross-examination stated that he passed his class-X examination in the year 2006 and class-XII examination in the year 2009.
He admitted that he has not filed any application to show that he approached school or CBSE for change of his date of birth. He admitted that birth certificate Ex.PW1/A was issued on 26.05.2017. He admitted that he has misplaced his previous birth certificate and that is why, he got issued the birth certificate Ex.PW1/A. He also admitted that he noticed the discrepancy in his date of birth in his class-X mark-sheet when he received the same in the year 2006. He also admitted that he did not get any newspaper publication or gazette notification done in respect of the same.
16. He admitted that in the application form, his date of birth written as 27.06.1991 which is Ex.PW1/D1. He further admitted in admission leave register, his date of birth is mentioned as 27.06.1991 and the same is exhibted as Ex.PW1/D2. He also admitted that in his transfer certificate of Army school, Jorhat, the date of birth is mentioned as 27.06.1991 which is Ex.PW1/D3. He further admitted that in registration form of CBSE in class- IX, his date of birth is mentioned as 27.06.1991 and the same is exhibited CS No. 714/17 Arjun Rawat Vs. CBSE Page 7 of 11 as Ex.PW1/D4. He also admitted that on list of candidate, his date of birth is mentioned as 27.06.1991 which is exhibited as Ex.PW1/D5.
17. Thus, it is apparent that except Ex.PW1/A, there is no document which shows that the date of birth of plaintiff is 27.12.1990. It is the admitted fact that the said certificate was issued on 30.05.2017 i.e. just before filing of the present case. Plaintiff failed to file the earlier birth certificate which was filed to the school when he took admission.
18. Plaintiff passed his class-X examination in the year 2006. He admitted that he noticed the discrepancy in his date of birth in his class-X mark-sheet in the year 2006 itself. However, plaintiff has not taken any step for rectifying the above stated mistake for almost 11 years i.e. till the filing of the present suit. Plaintiff has not filed any document to show that he has ever approached his school or CBSE for change/correction in his date of birth. He also admitted that he did not get any newspaper publication or gazette notification in respect of the change/correction of date of birth.
Though, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in "Jigya Yadav (Minor) Vs. CBSE & Ors." Civil Appeal No.3905/2011 passed on 03.06.2021 discussed the bye-laws of CBSE in detail and directed the CBSE to amend the bye-laws. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India also discussed the CS No. 714/17 Arjun Rawat Vs. CBSE Page 8 of 11 procedure for "correction" and "change" in the particulars of the candidate in the record of the CBSE.
The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in "Jigya Yadav (Minor) Vs. CBSE & Ors." Civil Appeal No.3905/2011 passed on 03.06.2021 discussed the entire bye-laws of CBSE and held the following :-
"171. As regards request for "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 the 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. Thus, however, need not be unconditional, but subject to certain reasonable conditions to be fulfilled by CS No. 714/17 Arjun Rawat Vs. CBSE Page 9 of 11 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 office 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 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).
The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in para no.172 of its judgment directed the CBSE to process the application of the applicants/students on the same lines as mentioned in paragraph no.170 and 171 of the judgment until amendment of relevant bye-laws. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India also directed CBSE to take immediate steps to amend its bye-laws so CS No. 714/17 Arjun Rawat Vs. CBSE Page 10 of 11 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.
20. The plaintiff has not complied the procedural requirement as discussed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the above stated judgment. Moreover, the alleged public document is prepared just before filing of the present petition. The earlier birth certificate was not produced by the plaintiff. No other public document got prepared by the plaintiff. The case of the plaintiff does not inspire confidence of the Court as it is unimaginable that plaintiff waited for more than 11 years for correction in his date of birth. The claim for correction in date of birth cannot be entertained after lapse of so many years. Thus, I am of the considered view that case of the plaintiff is not covered under the above stated decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. So, both the issues are decided against the plaintiff.
As both the issues are decided against the plaintiff, so, suit of the plaintiff is dismissed.
File be consigned to record room after due compliance.
Digitally
signed by
MANOJ
MANOJ KUMAR
KUMAR(Manoj Kumar)
Date:
2022.09.27
SCJ-cum-RC, East/KKD/Delhi
17:30:36
+0530
Announced in the Court
today 27th of September, 2022
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