ALOK SHARMA,J. - (1.) BY THE COURT This is another case relating to change of date of birth of student admitted to a school of Central Board of Secondary Education (hereafter 'the Board') which has found place on the docket of this court. Scores of such cases are repeatedly being filed before this court because of the Board acting mechanically and unmindful of the facts of a case before it, and treating without any legal justification its regulations as iron clad overlooking the grave prejudice caused to the students for reasons of an error in stating their date of birth at the time of admission in the school.
(2.) The petitioner took admission to the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya (hereafter 'the school') at the play group level (pre- school) on 22-3-2004. The petitioner's father at the relevant time wrongly stated the petitioner's date of birth as 21-9-2000. It appears that indeed this act of carelessness of petitioner's father continued till he was promoted to class X in the year 2015 when the petitioner sought to fill up his examination form for the secondary school examination to be conducted in 2016. The petitioner's father thence moved an application before the school stating that the petitioner's date of birth was wrongly submitted in the school record as 21-9- 2000, when in fact it was 5-12-2000. In support of the application, he annexed the birth certificate issued by a competent authority under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (hereafter 'the Act of 1969'), copy of Aadhar Card, copy of Passport and copy of PAN card. The respondent school as required by the Board's Examination Bye-laws forwarded the application to the Board. The Board on 17-12-2015 required the school to furnish certain documents for correction of the date of birth in the petitioner's admit card. The documents required were the admission form, Transfer Certificate, if any, on which the petitioner was admitted to the school and extract copy of Scholar Register. The said documents were sent by the school. However vide order dated 15-1-2016, the application for change of the petitioner's date of birth was rejected by the Board on the ground of it not being acceptable as the change to the date of birth sought was not in consonance with the petitioner's date of birth in the school's records. The secondary school mark-sheet was issued to the petitioner recording his date of birth as 21-9-2000. A representation by the petitioner's father thereagainst has since been rejected invoking Rule 69.2(iv) of the Examination Bye-laws and the earlier order dated 15-1-2016 reiterated.
(3.) Mr. Ajay Shukla, counsel for the petitioner submitted that the refusal by the Board to change the petitioner's date of birth as recorded with the Board and reflected in the mark-sheet of secondary examination issued on 28-5-2016, despite an application for correction earlier filed is arbitrary and perverse, inasmuch as the Board while so doing did not reckon for the birth certificate issued by the competent authority under the Act of 1969 reflecting the petitioner's date of birth as 5-12-2000. Mr. Ajay Shukla submitted that indeed an error appears to have been made by the petitioner's father when the petitioner was first admitted to the School in the play group in 2004, when he was a mere 4 years old. Subsequently, no occasion ever arose till the filling up of examination form for the secondary school examination in the later half of the AY 2015 when the incorrect date of birth 21-9-2000 perpetuated since the admission to school was noticed. It was submitted that the application for correction of petitioner's date of birth was filed prior to receipt of the admission card for the Secondary School Examination 2016 and well before the declaration of the result by Board. Mr. Ajay Shukla submitted that albeit Rule 72.1(iv)(c) of the Board's Examination bye-laws provides that at the time of admission in a school date of birth certificate issued under the Act of 1969 should be submitted as proof of date of birth, yet the birth certificate issued by the competent authority under Act of 1969 is being overlooked by the Board on the specious ground that the petitioner's date of birth recorded in the school at the time of his admission in the year 2004 is sacrosanct. Mr. Ajay Shukla submitted that no inordinate delay from the date of realization of the error in the date of birth in seeking change of petitioner's date of birth can be attributable to petitioner or his father in the facts of the case. It was submitted that in the event petitioner's date of birth not being corrected as sought as per his birth certificate, PAN card, Passport and Aadhar card, the petitioner would suffer grave irreparable loss in future life including in admissions to University/ College of his choice and employment prospects.;