IMPORTANT POINT
Corrections to school records after a student has left are only permissible for 'obvious mistakes' as defined by the Maharashtra Secondary School Code, and the scope for such corrections is very limited.

JUDGMENT/ORDER

1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri A.V. Deshmukh, learned AGP for respondent Nos. 2 and 3.

2. This petition seeks to assail the order dtd. 5/11/2020 passed by the Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Aurangabad - Respondent No.2, whereby, the prayer made by the petitioner seeking corrections in the school record of Primary School, Shivur, Taluka Vaijapur, District Aurangabad, has been rejected, stating the reason that such corrections cannot be permitted as the petitioner had left the school.

3. It has been argued by the learned counsel for the petitioner that by making application seeking corrections in the school record dtd. 17/8/2020, the petitioner had prayed that in the school record, his caste has wrongly been described as 'Rajput Bhamta' in place of 'Pardeshi' and further that his date of birth has also been wrongly described as "11/6/1989" in place of "11/6/1991". Accordingly, correction in the school record was sought. It is submitted that the said record could be corrected, however, by refusing the prayer made by the petitioner, the respondent No.2 has acted arbitrarily and illegally.

4. On the other hand, learned AGP has argued that in view of the Full Bench judgment of this Court in the matter of "Janabai vs. State of Maharashtra" 2019(6) Mh.L.J. 769, since the corrections sought to be made were not in relation to 'obvious mistakes', the order passed by the respondent No.2 which is under challenge in this petition, does not suffer from any illegality.

5. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having perused the judgment of the Full bench of this Court in the case of "Janabai" (supra) we are of the opinion that the prayers made in this writ petition are mis-conceived. The issue as to the scope and nature of correction which can be effected in a school record under the provisions of the Maharashtra Secondary School Code, came to be considered by the Full Bench of this Court in the case of "Janabai" (supra), which concluded in para. 39 of the said judgment, as under:-

"39. This being the position, we answer Question Nos.(A) and (C) in the following terms :

(a) An application for alteration in the entries in the General Register is permissible, with the previous permission of the appropriate authority at any time when the pupil is attending the school.

(b) No application for alteration in the figure of date of birth is permissible, after the student has left secondary school, except correction in the nature of 'obvious mistakes' as indicated in Clause 26.3 i.e. of a nature where the date of a particular month which does not exist in the calendar and likewise.

(c) Thus, in light of the above, an application for change in the name, surname or caste, either due to reasons / cause unnoticed before or even occurring subsequently, being errors which fall within the category of 'obvious mistakes', can be made, even after the student has left school in light of the language of Clause 26.3 in the manner as indicated by Appendix Six in the forms as prescribed in the S.S. Code.

(d) For the purposes like admission to another educational institution, in cases of obvious mistakes as prescribed in Clause 26.4, a change/ correction in the school leaving certificate, so as to make the entry consistent with the corresponding entries in the General Register of the School is permissible, which in fact is in consonance with (c) above."

6. If we peruse the law declared by the Full Bench in the case of "Janabai" (supra), what we notice is that no application for alteration in the figure of date of birth is permissible after the student has left the school, except for correction in the nature of an 'obvious mistake', such as mistake of a nature, where date of a particular month which does not exist in the calendar stands recorded and other like mistakes.

7. The Full Bench has also held that the application for change in the name, surname or caste can be made only in case where errors being p