The court ruled that statutory documents, such as birth certificates, take precedence over school records for correcting date of birth entries, emphasizing the need for CBSE to align its records accordingly.

JUDGMENT :

01. The petitioner came forward with the institution of present writ petition bearing a cause of action relatable to correction of entry of his date of birth in the school record but failing to earn a favorable response thus leading him to take recourse to invoke writ jurisdiction of this court under article 226 of the Constitution of India (COI). The institution of the writ petition came to take place on 20/05/2024.

02. The petitioner has mentioned his age in the writ petition to be of 20 years.

03. The petitioner is said to have done his schooling under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) system. The petitioner passed his secondary school (matriculation) examination in the year 2020 from the Delhi Public School (DPS) Maharaja Hari Singh Marg Jammu under roll number 13219622 for which the respondent No. 2- the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued marks statement cum certificate, Secondary School Examination, 2020 in which the petitioner’s date of birth came to be mentioned as 28/11/2004

04. As against his said recorded date of birth of 28/11/2004 in the CBSE issued marks statement cum certificate, the petitioner came to cite birth certificate issued by office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths, Jammu Municipal Corporation under section 12/17 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 read with rules 8/13 of Jammu and Kashmir Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 2022 bearing the petitioner’s date of birth to be 28/11/2003

05. Thus, one year age difference has come to attend the petitioner in terms of his birth date as recorded in the statue backed and based municipal record and the one recorded in CBSE record for aligning which the petitioner sought correction of CBSE recorded date of birth.

06. There is no doubt to the fact that upon his birth, the petitioner’s father Sh. Rakesh Tickoo and mother Smt. Meenakshi Tickoo had got the fact of birth of son to them recorded with Municipality Jammu, as it used to be then being predecessor of Municipal Corporation Jammu, under registration number 3480 on 13/12/2003 that a male child has been born with date of birth 28/11/2003. This public record document is un-impeachable given its statutory basis and also bearing in mind that its making coincided with the incident of birth of the petitioner.

07. Under which circumstances in the school record of the petitioner, his date of birth came to be recorded as 28/11/2004, instead of 28/11/2003 is either known to the petitioner’s parents or to the school authorities when and where the admission of the petitioner as a minor in the school had first taken and for which entry the petitioner cannot be put to account for.

08. The petitioner’s Aadhaar Card No. 7602 5616 0384 also carries petitioner’s date of birth to be 28/11/2003. The petitioner’s permanent account number card (PAN Card) No. CKFPT 4071B bears the petitioner’s date of birth to be 28/11/2003. Thus, there are three public/statutory sourced documents relating to the petitioner’s date of birth to be 28/11/2003 as against the petitioner’s date of birth in the CBSE record to be 28/11/2004.

09. The petitioner made an application to the Principal of the Delhi Public School (DPS) Jammu seeking correction of his school recorded date of birth of 28/11/2004 which application was forwarded to the CBSE Regional Office, Chandigarh which came forward with a response in writing that case for correction of date of birth of the petitioner is rejected without stating the reason for said rejection and that made the petitioner to rush to this court with the present writ petition for seeking an appropriate writ unto the respondents, in particular unto the respondent No. 2, for doing the needful record correction in favour of the petitioner.

10. In their reply, the respondents No. 1, 2 & 3, acting through Under-Secretary CBSE Regional Office Chandigarh seeking the dismissal of the writ petition, both on factual as well as legal basis. In their reply, the respondents