Cyriac Joseph, J.

1. This Writ Appeal arises from O.P.No.1507 of 2003 which was disposed of by the learned Single Judge as per the impugned judgment dated 16th January, 2003. The appellants are the respondents and the respondent herein is the petitioner in the original petition.

2. According to the averments in the original petition, the respondent herein was born on 25.6.1973 in Ananthamandiram Hospital, Kottayam. He is presently working in the United States of America. In order to apply for a Green Card there he needed a birth certificate from the first appellant - Health Inspector/Registrar (Births and Deaths), Kottayam Municipality. He approached the first appellant and obtained a birth certificate on 8.5.2002 a true copy of which is Ext.P1. As per Ext.P1 the date of birth of the respondent is 26.6.1973 whereas the actual date of birth is 25.6.1973. The mistake which had crept in the Birth Register was noticed by the respondent only when he received Ext.P1 birth certificate. Hence, he submitted Ext.P2 application dated 2.12.2002 to the first appellant requesting to correct the mistake in the Birth Register. The application was filed under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969. The first appellant is the competent authority to consider applications for correction in the Birth and Death Register maintained by the local authority. Along with his application the respondent enclosed relevant pages of the S.S.L.C. Book and Passport. In the S.S.L.C. Book and in the Passport of the respondent, his date of birth is shown as 25.6.1973. According to Rule 11(2) of the Kerala Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 1999, if any person asserts that any entry in the Register of Births and Deaths is erroneous in substance, the Registrar may correct the entry in the manner prescribed under Section 15, upon production by that person of a declaration setting forth the nature of the error and true facts of the case made by two credible persons having knowledge of the facts of the case. In the light of the provisions contained in Rule 11(2) of the Kerala Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 1999, along with Ext.P2 application the respondent submitted affidavits of two credible persons having knowledge of his correct date of birth. They are the affidavits of Smt.Nalini and Smt.Ananthavally who are the elder sisters of the respondent's mother. However, the first appellant as per Ext.P5 communication dated 21.12.2002 rejected the request of the respondent for correction of date of birth. As per Ext.P5, the correct date of birth of the respondent as seen from the Birth Register maintained in the office of the first appellant is 26.6.1973. At the time of admission of the respondent in the school the guardian might have made a mistake in giving the date of the respondent. Hence the respondent could take steps for correcting the date of birth in the school records in conformity with the Birth Register. It is also stated in Ext.P5 that under the existing rules the respondent's date of birth cannot be corrected in the Birth Register.

3. In the original petition the petitioner prayed for quashing Ext.P5 order of the first respondent and also for a direction to the first respondent to effect appropriate correction in the date of birth of the petitioner in the Birth Register maintained in the office of the first respondent and to issue a birth certificate to the petitioner showing his date of birth as 25.6.1973. The original petition was disposed of by the learned Single Judge at the admission stage without giving any opportunity to the respondents in the original petition to file any counter affidavit. In the impugned judgment the learned Single Judge has observed that from the affidavits filed in support of the claim of the petitioner the mistake regarding the petitioner's date of birth in the Municipality records appears to be quite probable on account of noting the date of reporting of birth as the date of birth