Shourya Dadhich vs Board Of Secondary Education And Anr

This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner with the following prayers.:-

"It is, therefore respectfully prayed that your lordships may graciously be pleased to call for the entire record of the case and after examining the same allow the present writ petition and -

(I) by an appropriate writ, order or direction the impugned letter dated 11.12.20109 (Annexure-10), issued by the non-petitioner No. 1, Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan, Ajmer may kindly be quashed and set aside.

(ii) by further appropriate writ, order or direction, the non-petitioners may kindly be directed to make necessary correction in the school record of the petitioner and in marksheet cum certificate issued to the petitioner for Secondary Examination, 2013, his date of birth be rectified/corrected as 27.5.1997 instead of 27.5.1999.

(iii) any other beneficial order or direction which the Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case may also kindly be passed in favour of the petitioner."

Counsel for the petitioner submitted that due to inadvertence, petitioner has mentioned his date of birth while filing the examination form of Class-X as 27.05.1999 whereas, his actual date of birth is 27.05.1997. Counsel further submits that in the Aadhar Card, Birth Certificate, Passport & Driving Licence, date of birth of petitioner has been recorded as 27.05.1997. Lastly, counsel submits that in view of these documents the respondents may be directed to correct his date of birth in the school record and Mark-Sheet of Class 10 th, from 27.05.1999 to 27.05.1997. In support of his contention counsel relied upon the judgment passed by a Co-ordinate Bench of this court in the matter of Arpit Agarwal Vs. Central Board of Secondary Education and others (S.B.Civil Writ Petition No.4362/2017) wherein it has been held as under:-

"The petitioner seeks a change in the name of his father from R.B. Gupta to Ram Bharosi Gupta in his Secondary Examination Mark-sheet issued by the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) on 28-5-2016 as the application therefor filed by the petitioner was rejected on 14-3-2017.

Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner's prayer for change of the name of his father from R.B. Gupta to Ram Bharosi Gupta is innocuous. The petitioner's father's name as Ram Bharosi Gupta has been so reflected in the petitioner's birth certificate, issued by the Jaipur Municipal Corporation on the basis of registration made on 17-6-2000. Further the petitioner's father's name as Ram Bharosi Gupta is recorded in his PAN card, as also in his driving licence. It was submitted that no doubt a mistake was made when the petitioner was admitted to school where his father's name was set out in an abbreviated form i.e. R.B. Gupta and that mistake was perpetuated, rather unthinkingly innocent of the consequences when the examination form for class X examination by CBSE was filled up. But the mistake cannot be held to be non-rectifiable and condemn the petitioner to suffer myriad prejudices all through life.

Mr. M.S. Raghav appearing for CBSE submitted that change of name of student's father reflected in the mark- sheet/ certificate issued by the CBSE can only be made within the scope of CBSE's Examination Bye-laws. Thereunder the petitioner is not entitled to change sought and the impugned order dated 14-3-2017 has been rightly passed.

Having heard counsel for the parties, I am of the considered view that CBSE cannot be allowed to take a very technical view of the matter, relating to changes of details in a mark-sheet/ certificate issued by it. Even though the petitioner and his parents were not careful while filling the form for admission of the petitioner to the school and while filling up the examination form for the secondary school examination to be conducted by the CBSE in the year 2016, their carelessness and casualness cannot be held to unrectifiable, to do so, would be wholly insensitive and arbitrary. CBSE's Examination Bye-laws on the issue of change of details in the mark-sheet/ certificate issued by it are merely directory to be applied with reference to the facts of each case. To hold them to be mandatory would entail a challenge, quite sustainable to their arbitrariness and hence unconstitutionality."

Counsel for the respondents submit that the petitioner himself was negligent in filing up the Examination form, therefore, the writ petition filed by the petitioner deserves to be dismissed.

After considering the submissions made by counsel for the parties and also the judgment of the Co-ordinate Bench of this court in the matter of Arpit Agarwal (supra), in my view the petition filed by the petitioner deserves to be allowed for the reasons; firstly, in the Aadhar Card, Birth Certificate, Passport and Driving Licence, the date of birth of the petitioner has been recorded as 27.05.1997; secondly, no prejudice would be caused to the respondents while changing the date of birth in the school record and mark-sheet of the petitioner.

In that view of the matter, the writ petition filed by the petitioner is allowed and the petitioner is directed to submit an application in the office of respondents for change/correction in his date of birth along with required documents and a certified copy of this order. On his doing so, the respondents are directed to make necessary correction i.e. change in date of birth of the petitioner in the school record and Certificate of Class 10th, from 27.05.1999 to 27.05.1997 within a period of one month.

The petitioner is directed to deposit a cost of Rs.5,000/- in the office of the respondents along with the application form.