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Gauhati High Court
Ujjal Bhuyan, J.
Akshendra Garg - Appellant
Versus
Central Board of Secondary Education & Anr. - Respondent
WP(C) No. 1955 of 2012
Decided On : 30-07-2014
Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 - Section 12 - Education - Petitioner at the time of filing the writ petition was a student of Class X - Registration Certificate issued to the petitioner - By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioner seeks quashing of order passed by the Regional Officer, Central Board of Secondary Education, Regional office, Guwahati rejecting the prayer of the petitioner for change in the date of birth as recorded in the record of CBSE - Petitioner further seeks a direction to the respondents to correct his date of birth - Held, When the statute provides for correction of date of birth as well as for belated registration by following a particular procedure and the competent statutory authority having satisfied itself that the date of birth of the petitioner consequent upon which the petitioner got his date of birth altered by following the due procedure, in my considered view , the same should be given effect to - Moreover, nobody has questioned the correctness of the enquiry made by the Magistrate or the certificate issued by the Registrar certifying the date of birth of the petitioner - It is true that bye law 69.2 bars change/correction in the date of birth once recorded in the CBSE record except correction of typographical errors, the same has to be read in a manner that it does not act as a barrier in giving effect to a statutory provision - In any case, in case of any conflict between the statutory provision and the bye law, the statutory provision has to prevail - Petition allowed.
2. By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioner seeks quashing of order dated 15.2.2012 passed by the Regional Officer, Central Board of Secondary Education( CBSE), Regional office, Guwahati rejecting the prayer of the petitioner for change in the date of birth as recorded in the record of CBSE. Petitioner further seeks a direction to the respondents to correct his date of birth from 17.9.1991 to 17.9.1993.
3. Facts of the case may be briefly noted.
4. Petitioner at the time of filing the writ petition was a student of Class X in Don Bosco School, Panbazar, Guwahati (School). The School is affiliated to CBSE. As per CBSE Registration Certificate issued to the petitioner, his date of birth has been recorded as 17.9.1991. According to the parents of the petitioner, at the time of delivery of the petitioner which took place at their residence, Birth Certificate was not obtained. Since the birth took place at home, question of any Medical Certificate certifying the date of birth of the petitioner also did not arise.
5. Later on, when the parents discovered that 17.9.1991 is not the correct date of birth of the petitioner which is 17.9.1993 and such incorrect date of birth may have a bearing on the academic prospects of the petitioner, they approached the Executive Magistrate, Kamrup(Metropolitan) District, Guwahati for correction of the record. Executive Magistrate after conducting an enquiry issued an order on 3.9.2008 declaring that he was satisfied that the date of birth of the petitioner is 17.9.1993 and which may be recorded as 17.9.1993. Accordingly, Registrar of Births and Deaths was requested to take necessary action. Following order of the Executive Magistrate, Registrar of Births and Deaths, Guwahati Municipal Corporation issued a certificate of birth under Section 12 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 certifying that the date of birth of the petitioner is 17.9.1993. Parents of the petitioner thereafter requested the School authority to correct the date of birth of the petitioner as recorded in the School record. Since no decision was taken, parents approached the Regional Officer, CBSE, Guwahati(respondent No.1) vide letter dated 20.4.2009 to take necessary decision in the matter. Though correspondences were made between the respondent No.1 and the School authorities, nothing positive came out.
6. At that stage, petitioner moved this Court by filing a writ petition being WP(C) No.5473/2011. The said writ petition was disposed of by this Court by order dated 12.12.2011 by directing the respondents to consider the application of the petitioner for correction of his date of birth within a period of 4(four) weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of the said order.
7. Ultimately, respondent No.1 passed the impugned order on 15.2.2012. Respondent No.1 after referring to bye law 69.2 of the Examination Bye- Laws of CBSE, 1995, as amended, held that no change in the date of birth once recorded in the record of CBSE shall be made and the date of birth in respect of the petitioner shall remain as 17.9.1991 in the documents issued by CBSE.
8. Aggrieved, petitioner has filed the present writ petition seeking the reliefs as indicated above.
9. Contention of the petitioner is that respondent No.1 did not consider bye law 69.2 in its correct perspective. The bye law is applicable in case of correction in the date of birth recorded because of typographical errors or similar such mistakes. Here is a case where mistake is in the original Birth Certificate itself because of wrong information furnished, which has now been corrected by the competent authority. It is not a case of correction in the date of birth recorded but a change in the date of birth in the record of CBSE following such change made by the competent authority in accordance with the procedure laid down. Therefore
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