Through; Mr.Satish Kr.Tripathi,Advocate v. CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY

1. The appeal is preferred against the order dated 28.11.2016 passed by the learned SingleJudgein W.P.(C)No.6042/2016.The unsuceessftti petitioner isthe appellantbefore us.

2. It is the case ofthe appellant that he was bom on 30.10.1998 at Saharanpur, U.P. and was accordingly issued Birth Certificate by the hospitaland theRegistrarofBirth and Death consequently.Theappellant got admitted to respondent No. 4 School on 10.04.2005, wherein he studied till Class IV.Thereafter,the appellant gotadmitted to respondent No. 3 School in 2008 after getting a Transfer Certificate from the respondent No. 4 School. While issuing the Transfer Certificate, the respondentNo.4Schoolinadvertently mentioned the dateofbirth ofthe appellantas30.10.1996instead of30.10.1998andthesame gotrecorded Page[1] of[6] LPA 28/2017 2017:DHC:8866-DB in the records ofthe respondent No.3 School.

3. The said inadvertent mistake ofthe respondent No.4 School was not noticed by the appellant or by his parents till the time he started preparing for Class XII Board Examination in the year 2016, when he realized the defect in the previous mark-sheets and records ofthe Central Board Secondary Education.Thereafter,the parents ofthe appellant made a request to the office ofthe respondent No.2on 25.01.2016,which was rejected vide order dated 13.04.2016 on the ground of the amended Rule 69.[2] of the Examination Bye-Laws which was notified vide Notification dated 25.06.2015 stating that as per the said Rule, any application, for correction in the Date ofBirth ofa candidate mentioned in the records ofthe Board,can be considered only within one year ofthe date ofdeclaration ofthe result ofthe examination and not after the said period ofone year.

4. Aggrieved by the order ofthe respondent No.2 dated 13.04.2016, the appellant filed a writ petition bearing No. 6042/2016 before the learned Single Judge. The learned Single Judge vide order dated 28.11.2016 dismissed the petition while relying upon the decision ofthis Court in BhagwatDayal vs. CBSE& Ors.(LPA No. 783/2010)and held as under:- "7. It is notedfrom Annexure R-1/1 atpage 12ofthe counter affidavit filed by the respondents 1 and 2, which is an admissionform filled by the mother ofthe petitioner at the time of admission of the petitioner in the respondent No.3 School, the date ofbirth has been shown as October 30, 1996. Based on the said information, the respondent No.3/School has in the admission and withdrawal register, depicted the date ofbirth ofthe petitioner as October 30, 1996.

8. That apart, the respondents 1 and 2 have issued a LPA 28/2017 Page2of[6] registration card depicting the date ofbirth ofthe petitioner as October30,1996.Mr.AtulKumariscorrectin contending that the date ofbirth i.e October 30, 1996 wasshown in the records ofthe CBSE, based on the information given by the School concerned.

9. The plea as advanced by the learned counselfor the petitioner that the date ofbirth ofthe petitioner is October 30, 1998 as depicted in the birth certificate so also the records ofthe respondent No.4, is appealing but in view of Annexures R-1/1,R.1/2andR-1/3read with theprovisions of bylaw 69.2, which inter-alia stipulates date ofbirth can be correctedifthere are any typographicalor other errors to be in consistent with the School records. It is not such a case here as it is a change ofdate ofbirth and not correction. The case ofthe petitioner is not covered under the provisions of bylaw 69.2ofthe respondents 1 and[2].

10. Thatapart,it is notedthatthe date ofbirth as October30, 1996 was initially recorded in the records ofthe respondent No.4 in the year 2008. Thereafter, the name ofthe petitioner was registered with CBSE in the year 2012-13 when the date of birth was recorded as October 30, 1996. Thereafter, pursuant to the Class X examination, the certificate also depicts the same date ofbirth. Asper thepetitioner, the error was detected only when the petitioner was to take Class Xll examination, i.e., in the year 2016,that is eightyears after he took admission in respondentNo.3Schoolwhen the mother of the petitioner herselfstated the date ofbirth ofthe petitioner as October 30, 1996.It would be quite late in the day to seek change of the date of birth, more so, keeping in view the provision ofbyelaw 69.2ofthe byelaws.

11. That apart, this Court is ofthe view that the case ofthe respondent would be covered by thejudgment as relied upon by Mr. Atul Kumar, wherein in para 8, the Court has observedas under, which 1reproducefor benefit. "8.In thepresentcase, class 10certificate is dated3rdJune,

2000. Thereafter, the appellant had appeared in the AllIndia Secondary School Certificate Examination in the year 2003. At that time also, the appellant did not challenge or askfor change ofthe date ofbirth or the name ofhisfather. Theplea taken by the appellant that he could not observe the aforesaid mistake till January, 2010 when the appellant was appearing LPA 28/2017 Page3of[6] in Civil Services Examination has been rightly not accepted. The appellant had obtained a certificate from Health Department of Government of Haryana on 2nd February, 2010 and then had approached CBSE and his school. Learned singlejudge hasfurther observed that notices were issued to three schools where the appellant had studied. One school had stated that records were not available; another school hadstated that no student by the appellant's name was enrolled with them and the third school where the appellant was studying when he had appeared in 10 th class examination, had enclosed copy ofadmissionform dated 21st April, 1999, extract ofthe admission withdrawal register and the transfer certificate dated 31st March, 1999 issued by his previous school. In these documents, the date of birth was recordedas 18th March,1984and not 18th March,1985. The appellant'sfather's name was mentioned as Bhim Singh and not Bhim Sain."

12. In sofar as the plea oflearned counselfor the petitioner, that the petitioner has made a requestfor correction ofthe date ofbirth within one yearfrom the date ofnotification of the amended bye-law, is concerned as, Ihave held, that byelaw 69.[2] has no applicability, theperiodofoneyear shallnot be applicable, as it is nota case ofcorrection, which also is impermissible in thefacts.

5. The learned counsel appearing for the appellant averred that the correct date ofbirth ofthe appellant i.e.30.10.1998should be mentioned in the records ofthe respondents in place of30.10.1996 as it was merely an inadvertent mistake committed by the respondent No.4 School while issuingthe Transfer Certificate to the appellant.However,the mistake of therespondentNo.4Schoolshould notbe attributed tothe appellantand he must not be made to suffer on accountofa mistake committed by the respondentNo.4School.

6. On the converse,the learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.1 and2refutedthecontentionsoftheappellantandsubmittedthatthe Page4of[6] LPA 28/2017 view taken by the learned Single Judge is correct. He further submitted that as oftoday,the appellant has also appeared and passed in Class XII Examinations as well and hence, no corrections in the past records can be made now.

7. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused all the material available on record.

8. Before delving into the merits ofthe case, it would be pertinent to reproduce the relevant amended Rule 69.[2] ofthe Examination Bye-Laws, which reads as under:- "69.2(i) No change in the date of birth once recorded in the Board's records shall be made. However, corrections to correct typographical and other errors to make the certificate consistent with the school records can be made provided thatcorrections in the school records should not have been made after the submission ofapplicationform for admission to Examination to the Board. xxxx

(iv) The applicationfor correction in date of birth duly forwarded by the Head of school alongwith documents mentioned in byelaws 69.2(Hi) shall be entertained by the Board only within one year ofthe date of declaration of result. No correction whatsoever, shall be made on application submitted after the saidperiodofoneyear."