Manohar Singh vs State of Rajasthan and Others

Vijay Bishnoi, J.—The petitioner has filed this writ petition assailing the validity of order dated 5th of Sept., 2005 passed by the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan, Ajmer (hereinafter referred to as ''the Board'') whereby the representation preferred by the petitioner on 26.2.2003 for correction in his date of birth in the High School Examination 1964 certificate issued by the Board has been rejected. Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner was working as L.D.C. in Chopasani School Education Society, Jodhpur and retired from the post of U.D.C. on attaining the age of superannuation. The petitioner earlier filed writ petition being numbered as S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 2327/2003 before this Court wherein a grievance was raised that in the High School Examination 1964 certificate issued by the Board, the date of birth of the petitioner has wrongly been mentioned as 8.5.1945 instead of 8.5.1947 and despite his several requests to the Board, by way of representations, the Board has not corrected his date of birth in the certificate. A coordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 26th of May, 2005 gave a direction to the Secretary to the Board to consider and dispose of the representations submitted by the petitioner within a period of six weeks. In pursuance to the said directions given by this Court, the Secretary to the Board has passed the order dated 5.9.2005 and rejected the representation of the petitioner. Being aggrieved with said rejection order, the petitioner has preferred this writ petition.

Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that on account of inadvertence, in the transfer certificate date 12.5.1962, issued by the Head Master of Government Middle School Baori (Jodhpur), the date of birth of the petitioner was mentioned as 8.5.1945 instead of 8.5.1947 and for correcting the same, the petitioner has written letter in the year 1962 itself but to no avail, however, on the basis of the said certificate, the Board has mentioned the date of birth of the petitioner as 8.5.1945 in certificate of High School Examination 1964 and despite production of all documentary evidence, the Board has illegally rejected the representation of the petitioner on the basis of surmises and conjectures.

Learned counsel for the petitioner has further submitted that the Secretary of the Board has not decided the representations of the petitioner as per the directions given by this Court in the earlier writ petition. It is also contended that the Secretary to the Board has decided the said representation while relying upon incorrect facts and has passed the impugned order without application of mind. It is also argued that the petitioner is making request for correction in his date of birth since 1962 and, therefore, it cannot be said that the petitioner has made the said request after a great delay.

On the strength of the above arguments, the learned counsel for the petitioner has prayed that the impugned order dated 5.9.2005 may be quashed and set aside and the directions be issued to the Secretary to the Board to make necessary corrections in the date of birth of the petitioner in the High School Examination 1964 certificate dated 12.6.1964 (Annex. 6), by mentioning his date of birth of the petitioner as 8.5.1947.

Per contra, the learned counsel for the respondents has supported the impugned order and has argued that the Secretary to the Board has passed a just and reasoned order after taking into consideration all the documentary evidence produced by the petitioner and, therefore, no case for interference is made out.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record by the concerned parties.

The Secretary to the Board has observed that in the examination form, filled in by the petitioner for his appearance in the high school examination, the petitioner himself has mentioned his date of birth as 8.5.1945. It is also observed that when the transfer certificate was issued by the Headmaster, Government Middle School Baori (Jodhpur) in the year 1962, the petitioner has not raised any objection. The Secretary to the Board has also found that though the petitioner has stated that he studied upto 5th standard at Chopasani School Education Society, but the petitioner has not produced any material to show that what date of his birth was mentioned in the admission form and the transfer certificate pertaining to the Chopasani School Education Society. The Secretary to the Board also found that the representations preferred by the petitioner for correction in the date of birth are not in accordance with the procedure, which has been approved by the Rajasthan High Court in various decisions.

After going through the impugned judgment and after considering the reasons given by the Secretary to the Board, this Court is of the opinion that the Secretary of the Board has taken into consideration each and every aspect of the matter and has rightly found that the petitioner has failed to make out a case of correction in his date of birth as mentioned in the high school Examination 1964 certificate issued by the Board on 12th June, 1964. Hence, there is no force in this writ petition. The same is hereby dismissed.