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Shorn of unnecessary details the facts are that the writ petitioner, namely, Parayan Sarkar (in short, Parayan) was admitted at St. Lawrence High School (in short, the school) in the year 2003 on the basis of the documents furnished by his parents. In the said documents submitted at the time of admission, Parayan's date of birth was recorded as 01.05.97 and accordingly in the school's records his date of birth was incorporated as 01.05.97. Thereafter, Parayan completed his studies in the said school and passed the Secondary Examination conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (in short, the Board) and the Higher Secondary Examination conducted by the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (in short, the Council) in the year 2013 and 2015 respectively. Subsequent thereto, on 12.03.2021, Parayan's father submitted a representation to the Principal of the school stating inter alia that the original birth certificate of Parayan was misplaced and the same could not be produced at the time of admission and as a consequence thereof, his date of birth was erroneously recorded as 01.05.97 in place and stead of 01.05.96 in the school records. Along with the said representation, the application submitted to the Board for correction of date of birth was also forwarded with a request to countersign and again by a representation dated 26.11.2021 it was intimated that Parayan's date of birth has been correctly incorporated as 01.05.96 in his Adhaar card and passport. However, the school authorities did not take appropriate steps and that as such Parayan preferred the writ petition which was dismissed with costs by the order impugned in the present appeal.

He argues that as the original birth certificate was misplaced and was not produced by his father at the time of admission, Parayan's date of birth was erroneously recorded as 01.05.1997 in the school, the Board and the Council. For the laches on the part of his parents, Parayan cannot be made to suffer. It is not a case that Parayan had reaped any benefit by having an erroneous date of birth incorporated in the school records. Unless necessary correction is effected on the basis of the original birth certificate, he would be facing insurmountable inconvenience. Such argument was glossed over by the learned single Judge and the writ petition was dismissed mechanically on the ground of delay. In support of the arguments advanced, reliance has been placed upon a judgment delivered in the case of Roshni Chatterjee -vs- Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, reported in 2012 SCC OnLine Cal 11628 and an unreported order passed in a writ petition being WP 442 of 2019 (Supratim Banick -vs- The Kolkata Municipal Corporation & Ors.).

Ms. Bhattacharyya, learned advocate appearing for the Board and Mr. Mitra learned advocate appearing for the Council submit that no proper application had been submitted by Parayan before the Board and the Council complying with the conditions as required to be fulfilled and that as such, it cannot be argued that the Board and the Council had failed to discharge their statutory obligations.

When the matter was last heard on 02.01.2026, Mr. Chakraborty, learned advocate appearing for Kolkata Municipal Corporation (in short, KMC) was directed to file a report as regards the certificates annexed to the writ petition. Pursuant to such direction, a report has been placed stating inter alia that both the birth certificate wherein the date of birth has been recorded as 01.05.96 and the birth certificate wherein the date of birth has been recorded as 01.05.97 are available in the birth register. In both the said certificates the names of Parayan's parents, the residential address are the same but the names of the hospital/nursing home differs. Both the said certificates were issued on the basis of the applications submitted by Parayan's parents.

In the said conspectus, the direction towards dismissal of the writ petition contained in the order impugned is set aside and the authorities of the school, the Board and the Council shall rectify their records by inserting 01.05.96 as the date of birth of Parayan.

Parayan shall submit his registration certificate, admit card, mark sheet and the pass certificate pertaining to the Secondary Examination and the Higher Secondary Examination to the Board and the Council within a period of three weeks. Upon receipt of the said original documents, authorities of the Board and the Council shall issue fresh certificates upon due rectification of Parayan's date of birth within a period of six weeks thereafter.