Important points:
• In the decision in Subin Mohammed v. Union of India, reported in (2016 (1) KLT 340), states that, while considering a petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking correction of date of birth in the CBSE records beyond the time period permitted by that authority.
• The competent authority of the 2nd respondent CBSE will ensure that the date of birth of the petitioner as entered in the CBSE records and marklists are changed so as to show it correctly as 6.9.1993 in tune with Ext.P-2 birth certificate
• The petitioner should pay cost of Rs.5,000/- (Rupees five thousand only) as demand draft in favour of the competent authority to the 2nd respondent CBSE, and the demand draft should be paid within two weeks from the date notified for receiving the certified copy of this judgment. The said demand draft should be sent to the 2nd respondent along with certified copy of the judgment and also the formal application of the petitioner seeking correction of date of birth in the CBSE records.

1. The Writ Petition has been filed in respect of the petitioner’s grievance regarding the correction of the date of birth as entered in the school records and CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) records so as to be in consonance with the entry of his date of birth as shown in the statutory birth certificate. The prayers in this Writ Petition (Civil) are as follows:

“i. Issue a writ of mandamus or other appropriate writ, order or direction commanding respondents 1 and 2 to correct the date of birth of the petitioner from 14.11.1995 to 06.09.1993 in the school records and CBSE records as sought for in Ext.P-3.

ii. Issue appropriate order or direction, as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper from time to time for this petitioner to attain the ends of justice.”

2. Heard Sri.Sunil Nair Palakkad, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Sri.S.Nirmal, learned Standing Counsel for the CBSE, appearing for respondents 1 and 2. In the nature of the order that is proposed to be passed in this petition, notice to R-3 (school) will stand dispensed with.

3. According to the petitioner, his date of birth has been correctly shown in Ext.P-2 birth certificate issued under the provisions of the Registration of Births & Deaths Act and the rules framed thereunder, as 6.9.1993 and the said birth was so registered on 13.9.1993. That inadvertently mistake had occurred while entering his date of birth in the school records, wherein it was wrongly shown as 14.11.1995. Consequently the said mistake has also been reflected in Ext.P-1 mark list dated 13.8.2013 issued by the respondent CBSE authorities. The petitioner has submitted Ext.P-3 petition dated 24.3.2018 before the 3rd respondent principal of the school for ensuring correction of his date of birth in the school records so as to be in consonance with Ext.P-2 birth certificate so that the petitioner could take next consequential steps for getting the date of birth corrected in the CBSE records as in Ext.P-1 mark list, etc. That Ext.P-3 application has not so far been considered. It is in the light of these factual averments, that the petitioner has filed the instant Writ Petition (Civil) with the aforementioned prayers.

4. Sri.S.Nirmal, learned Standing Counsel for the CBSE appearing for respondents 1 and 2 would submit that the consistent norms being followed by the CBSE authorities is that the plea for correction of date of birth as shown in the CBSE records should be submitted within a period of one year from the publication of the results and that before that, the entry of date of birth should be duly corrected in the school records so as to carry out the necessary corrections in the CBSE records and that in the instant case, even going by the pleadings of the petitioner, his results consequent to Ext.P-1 mark list have been published on 13.8.2013 and his plea in Ext.P-3 made before the 3rd respondent is thus evidently belated and beyond the time limit stipulated in the CBSE norms.

5. From a perusal of Ext.P-2 birth certificate, it can be seen that the date of birth of the petitioner has been duly entered therein as 6.9.1993 and his birth has been so registered on 13.9.1993 as can be seen from Ext.P-2 birth certificate. If, as a matter of fact, the petitioner was actually born only on 14.11.1995, it could have been virtually impossible to get birth of such a child registered on 13.9.1993, which is prior to the abovesaid date. That aspect itself would give credence and reliability to the version of the petitioner that he was actually born on 6.9.1993 as shown in Ext.P-2 and not on 14.11.1995 as shown in the school records and in Ext.P-1, etc. Moreover, the statutory birth certificate as in Ext.P-2 will have the force of statutory presumption about its correctness. But what is standing in the way of the petitioner is essentially the norms stipulated by the CBSE authorities regarding the time limit for submission of such plea for correction.

6. There is yet another aspect