Alteration of date of birth could be effected only before student leaves school.

The unsuccessful plaintiff in O.S.No.591 of 2002 on the file of the VI Assistant Judge, City Civil Court, Chennai is the appellant in the above second appeal.

2. For the sake of convenience the parties are referred to as per their ranking in the suit.

3. The short facts that are necessary for the disposal of the above appeal are as follows:-

The case of the plaintiff is that in the plaintiffs SSLC book her date of birth is mentioned as 09.02.1954; the said entry was made on the basis of the declaration given by her father; the plaintiff is the third child of her parents; the plaintiff is working as headmistress in SBOA School and Junior College, Anna Nagar, Chennai - 101; when the plaintiff went to Tuticorin to see her mother on 012. 2000, the plaintiffs mother informed her casually that her date of birth was 09.02.1956; on further probe being made by the plaintiff she came to know that her father had declared her age mistakenly while admitting her in the school; thereafter the plaintiff applied for a certified copy of her birth certificate with the Tuticorin Municipality on 05.03.2001 and obtained the same on 23.03.2001 and as per birth certificate the plaintiffs date of birth is 09.02.1956; the plaintiff informed her correct date of birth to her employer by enclosing the birth certificate issued by the Tuticorin Municipality for changing her date of birth in the service register and the employer informed her that unless her date of birth is changed in the SSLC book the entry cannot be changed in the service register; thereafter the plaintiff issued a legal notice to the defendants and no reply was received from the defendants, but the second defendant in the reply dated 19.06.2001 informed the plaintiff that as per Subsidiary Rule 5 of the SSLC scheme change of date of birth in the SSLC book cannot be entertained after the pupil has completed his Secondary School Course and appeared for the SSLC Public examination; in the said circumstances the plaintiff filed a suit for declaration that the date of birth of the plaintiff is 09.02.1956 and for consequential mandatory injunction directing the defendants to make alteration and the date 09.02.1954 in the SSLC Book bearing No.011706 dated 16.07.1969 as 09.02.1956.

4. The defendants contested the suit interalia contending that as per the Subsidiary Rule 5 of the SSLC Scheme, request for alteration of date of birth cannot be considered after "the pupil has completed the school course, sat for the SSLC Public Examination, marks entered and the certificate completed. For admission to Standard I, a pupil should have completed the age of five plus years as on the 31st July of the year of admission". If her date of birth is now changed the plaintiff would not satisfy the above minimum age prescribed for admission to school and the admission already made will become against rules. It was also contended that the suit was bad for non-joinder of the employer of the plaintiff, the parents and also the brothers and sisters of the plaintiff. It was further contended that if the plaintiff was interested in altering her date of birth, she should have corrected her date of birth within five years from the date of her entry into service. On the above said pleadings the defendants sought for dismissal of the suit.

5. After framing appropriate issues the suit was taken up for trial and during trial the plaintiff got herself examined as P.W.1 and marked Exs.A-1 to A-6. The defendants did not let any oral or documentary evidence. The Trial Court on a consideration of the evidence adduced in the case dismissed the suit. Being aggrieved by that the plaintiff filed an appeal in A.S.No.278 of 2005 before the IV Additional Judge, City Civil Court, Chennai. The Lower Appellate Court also on an independent consideration of the oral and documentary evidence available on record and the law on the subject concurred with the findings of the Trial Court and dismissed the appeal. Being aggrieved by t