Punjab-Haryana High Court
Balraj Singh vs Central Board Of Secondary Education on 7 July, 2011
Author: Rajive Bhalla
Bench: Rajive Bhalla
Civil Writ Petition No.1567 of 2011 -1-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
Civil Writ Petition No.1567 of 2011
Date of Order: 07.07.2011
Balraj Singh ...Petitioner
Versus
Central Board of Secondary Education
and another
..Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIVE BHALLA
Present:Mr. Naresh Kumar Joshi, Advocate
for the petitioner.
Mr. Harsh Aggarwal, Advocate
for respondent no.1
Mr. Kapil Sharma, Advocate
for respondent no.2.
RAJIVE BHALLA, J (Oral)
The petitioner prays for issuance of a writ, order or direction quashing order dated 18.02.2009, rejecting the application for correction of his date of birth. The petitioner also prays for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to record his correct date of birth in the secondary school examination certificate, issued by respondent no.1.
Counsel for the petitioner submits that the statutory birth certificate records the petitioner's date of birth as 12.01,1991. At the time of his admission, to the respondent no.2-school in 1994, the petitioner's date of birth is recorded as 12.01.1991. The petitioner's father also filed an affidavit that Civil Writ Petition No.1567 of 2011 -2- the petitioner's date of birth is 12.01.1991. The 8th Class certificate, issued by the school, bears the date of birth as 12.01.1991. However, on account of a typographical error, by the school, the petitioner's date of birth was recorded as 12.07.1990 in the examination form forwarded to respondent no.1. As a consequence, the certificates issued by the CBSE bear the wrong date of birth. The petitioner filed an application requesting the school to correct his date of birth. The school, accepted its error and forwarded the request to the Central Board of Secondary Education. The Board has rejected the request on the ground that the application has been filed after two years and the Board does not have jurisdiction to record such a correction.
Counsel for the petitioner further submits that as there is no dispute about the petitioner's date of birth and as the school has admitted its error, the Board is empowered under Rule 69.2 of the of Examination Bye-Laws to correct the date of birth. It is further submitted that relegating the petitioner to the remedy of filing a civil suit, to establish his date of birth would cause grave injustice.
Counsel for respondent No.1 submits that as correction of date of birth involves adjudication of disputed questions of fact, the petitioner should be relegated to his remedy of filing a civil suit. It is further submitted that the petitioner has failed to put forth any tenable argument in support of his plea that the Civil Writ Petition No.1567 of 2011 -3- date of birth mentioned in the examination form is a typographical error. It is further submitted that the Board has no power to correct the date of birth.
Counsel for respondent no.2-school admits that as per their record, the date of birth of the petitioner is 12.01.1991. The school also admits its error in recording the petitioner's date of birth in the examination form. The school has no objection, if the petitioner's date of birth is corrected.
I have heard counsel for the parties, perused the impugned order, the relevant Bye-Laws, the certificate appended with the petition. It is true that if there is any dispute as to the date of birth, a writ court would not record a finding of fact as to the correct date of birth. Where, however, the date of birth is duly established by a birth certificate, issued under the Birth and Death Registration Act, 1969, is recorded as such in the admission form and the affidavit filed at the time of admission in the school and is also so recorded in the class VII certificate, a writ court may, in the absence of any material to doubt its correctness, order the Board to record the correct date of birth.
The birth certificate, issued by the Registrar of Births and Death, records the petitioner's date of birth as 12.01.1991. The admission form filled at the time of admission to the school and the affidavit sworn by the petitioner's father at the time of admission, in the year, 1994, record the date of birth as Civil Writ Petition No.1567 of 2011 -4- 12.01.1991. The 8th class certificate also records the date of birth as 12.01.1991. The respondents do not contest the correctness of these documents. The school has in fact admitted that it has recorded a wrong date of birth in the examination form. The Central Board of Secondary Education should have, in the exercise of powers under Bye-Laws 69.2, corrected the date of birth, instead of compelling the petitioner to file this writ petition. It would be appropriate to reproduce Bye-Laws 69.2 of the Examination Bye-Laws of the Board.
"69.2 Changes/Corrections in date of birth:
(i) No change in date of birth once recorded in the Board's record shall be made. However, correction to correct typographical and other errors to make the certificate consistent with the school record can be 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.
(ii) 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 Civil Writ Petition No.1567 of 2011 -5- that the wrong entry was made erroneously in the list of candidates/application form of the candidate for the examination.
(iii) Request for correction in date of birth shall be forwarded by the Head of the School along with attested Photostat copies of:-
a) application for admission of the
candidate to the School.
b) portion of the page of admission and
withdrawal register where entry in
date of birth has been made; and
c) the School Leaving Certificate of the
previous school submitted at the time
of admission.
(iv) The application for correction in date of birth
duly forwarded by the Head of School along with documents mentioned in byelaws 69.2 (iii) shall be entertained by the Board only within two years of the date of declaration of result of Class X examination. No correction whatsoever shall be made on application submitted after the said period of two years.
This will be effective from the examination to be held in March, 1995."
Bye-Laws 69.2 empowers the Board to correct Civil Writ Petition No.1567 of 2011 -6- typographical error in certificates. As referred to hereinbefore, the school has admitted its mistake and there is no dispute that the petitioner's date of birth is 12.01.1991. The Board should have ordered correction of the error, admittedly, made by the school instead of taking shelter behind pleas of disputed facts and delay. The error committed by the school cannot be allowed to visit the petitioner with adverse consequences.
In view of what has been stated hereinabove, the writ petition is allowed, the order dated 18.02.2009 is set aside and the Central Board of Secondary Education is directed to correct the petitioner's date of birth in the relevant certificates, in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Bye-Laws 69.2, within three months from the receipt of a certified copy of this order.
No order as to costs.
July 07, 2011 (RAJIVE BHALLA) nt JUDGE