Ambika Kaul vs Central Board of Secondary Education

K. Kannan, J.—The petitioner wants a correction in the school certificate issued by the CBSE. The contention is that the actual date of birth of the petitioner was 04.07.1991 while the school certificate refers the date of birth as 04.07.1992. The documents filed along with the petition shows that it was not a clerical mistake which had taken effect in the school leaving certificate but it is a continuation of the entries which are found right from the time when the petitioner gained admission as a child in a nursery school. In the registration form made at the Jain Public School, Rewari, the petitioner''s name has been recorded as 04.07.1992. This is again the date of birth which is entered in the Jain Public School leaving certificate issued on 02.04.2002. At all times, therefore, the petitioner had surely knowledge of what she had secured in school records.

If the date of birth was of the year 1991, a change cannot be brought in the school records if the petitioner sought admission in the school giving a date of birth deliberately from what according to her was true. If there is a change which can be effected, it must conform to the parameters laid down in the change or correction in the date of birth as approved in the bye laws of the Central Board of Secondary Education. The said bye law reads as follows:-

69.2 changes/correction in the date of birth:

(i) No change in the date of birth once recorded in the board''s records in respect of those candidates who have appeared for the secondary/senior school examinations conducted by the board shall be made. However, corrections 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 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 that the wrong entry was made erroneously in the list of candidates/application from of the candidate for examination.

(iii) xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx

(iv) xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx

The two circumstances indeed are corrections in respect of typographical errors in making the certificate consistent with the school record. Evidently, it means if the school record prescribes the particular date of birth and the certificate issued by the Central Board refers to some other date, it can be corrected. I have already seen that the school record refers to the date of birth as 04.07.1992 that is precisely the entry in the CBSE certificate as well. The second circumstance mentioned in bye law 69.2 is where a genuine clerical error has crept in. Clause (ii) merely sets out the person who will be competent to effect the correction. There has nothing to do about the source of the alleged mistake. If a person at the time of admission into a school gives a particular date of birth and that is carried through all the years during the entire period of schooling and the CBSE certificate merely reproduces the birth details contained therein, there shall be simply no scope for a change in the CBSE certificate.

There could be instances where a parent secures admission for a child by making some manipulations regarding the date of birth. It could be in a situation where a child seeking admission is over-aged or under aged to gain admission. The plea of estoppel which operates against a child is on the basis of a statement of a guardian and if an entry is made to gain advantage relating to the age stipulation for an admission, it cannot be later changed to the benefit of the candidate after the schooling is over to a date which is convenient to the candidate. If the petitioner wants a declaration that she was born on some other date, it cannot be against the CBSE. CBSE cannot issue a certificate which is different from what is contained in the school records and what was brought in the CBSE certificate which was not any typographical error as we have already seen. Any direction in the writ petition ought to relate to a right which the petitioner has and corresponding duty which the respondent has. There is no duty for CBSE to make any correction of what is not typographical. There is also no right for the petitioner to effect a change in the respondent records. If the petitioner has her own date of birth recorded differently in birth certificate issued under Birth and Death Registration Act, she will put to such use as she finds it appropriate but as far as the CBSE certificate is concerned, there is no scope for any change.

Learned counsel for the petitioner refers to me a Division Bench ruling of this Court in Resham Singh Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Another, The Court was considering the case of an entry found in the passport relating to the date of birth which was inconsistent with the birth certificate. The Court was incidentally concerned about the prima facie correctness of an entry in the school leaving certificate. The Division Bench had held that entry in birth certificate would prevail. We are not considering the issue of what will prevail for making an entry in the passport. We are considering the issue of correction which is sought in a school certificate itself that was simply not an issue at all before the Division Bench.

There is also a bar of limitation. Change in date of birth could not be made at any time through mandatory relief. If the petitioner was born in 1991, she had completed 18 years in 2009. She had also received her CBSE certificate on 29.05.2007. The correction must have been applied for within 3 years from the date of knowledge of the alleged wrong entry in 2007 or within 3 years from attaining majority i.e. before 2012. The writ petition has been filed in 2014. Further, the CBSE has also referred to the fact that correction has not been applied for within 2 years, the period set up by its own rules for correction.

This issue has also come up before the Delhi High Court in Chirag Jain Vs. CBSE and Others, where the position of law has been explained that the parent could not have made a mistake about the date of birth and by ignorant about what was entered. It has also spelt out that if under the Regulation a two years period is mentioned, a demand for modification beyond the said period cannot be entertained.

The writ petition is untenable and it is dismissed.