VIJAY GANGAN S/O V P GANGADHARAN NAIR Vs. CONTROLLER OF EXAMINATIONS, CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) It is stated that the petitioner had completed his Secondary School education up to Standard X in the year 2003 from the 4th respondent school affiliated to the 3rd respondent-Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). It is the case of the petitioner that an inadvertent mistake had crept in Ext.P-1 certificate and Ext.P-2 mark list issued by the CBSE wherein the date of birth is erroneously shown as 28.3.1988 based on the wrong information given by the petitioner's parents. It is pointed out that erroneous entry made in Exts.P-1 and P-2 was due to a mistake committed by his parents at the time of admitting the petitioner in Standard I in the 4th respondent-school. It is pointed out that the petitioner's correct date of birth is 28.3.1987. It is submitted that the petitioner's date of birth (28.3.1987) has been correctly shown in the birth certificate issued by the statutory Registrar of Births & Deaths appointed under the provisions of Registration of Births & Deaths Act and the Rules framed thereunder as can be seen from Ext.P-3 certificate issued on 23.6.2017, etc. The petitioner's date of birth has also been correctly shown as 28.3.1987 in Ext.P-4 Passport, which was issued on 6.7.2017. That the petitioner has submitted Ext.P-5 application for correction of date of birth in the CBSE records by submitting the application through 4th respondent-school to be forwarded to the 3rd respondent. The 4th respondent-school forwarded Ext.P-5 application as per Ext.P-6 dated 7.9.2017 to the 3rd respondent-CBSE officials and the 2nd respondent CBSE authorities, Chennai, has rejected the plea of the petitioner as per the impugned Ext.P-7 letter dated 25.11.2017, wherein it has been noted that the delay on the part of the petitioner in making the plea for correction within the stipulated time period, the case is now time barred and cannot be entertained at this belated stage. It is this order at Ext.P-7 that is under challenge in this Writ Petition. The main prayers in this Writ Petition (Civil) are as follows:

(2.) Heard Sri.Rajesh Vijayan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri.S.Nirmal, learned Standing Counsel appearing for officials respondents 1 to 3. In the nature of the orders proposed to be passed in this petition, notice to R-4 will stand dispensed with.

(3.) Sri.S.Nirmal, learned Standing Counsel for CBSE, appearing for respondents 1 to 3 would submit on the basis of instructions of his parties that as per the guidelines followed by the respondent-CBSE, any plea for correction of date of birth as entered in the CBSE school records has to be made by the aggrieved candidate concerned within a period of one year from the CBSE concerned and such an application should be accompanies by an extract of the school admission register maintained by the school authorities concerned showing the correct date of birth. It is also submitted that the Division Bench of this Court in the decision in Subin Mohammed v. Union of India, (2016) 1 KLT 340, has also held in para 39 thereof that while considering a petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, it is always open for the Court to pass appropriate orders taking into account the facts and circumstances of each case and taking into consideration the aspect that future prospects of the candidates to study or to get employment abroad will be prejudicially affected if the entry of the date of birth in the mark sheet does not tally with that in the birth certificate. Accordingly the Division Bench in Subin Mohammed's case , has issued the following directions in paras 39 & 41, which read as follows: