The Birth Certificate issued under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 holds authority in determining the date of birth for public records.

1. Heard both sides. By consent, the main writ petition itself is taken up for final disposal.

2. No counter is filed on behalf of the respondents.

3. According to the petitioner, he had completed his 10th Standard during year 1997 and was issued with Secondary School Leaving Certificate on 16.06.1997. Later on, he had completed Diploma and B.E. (Civil Engineering). At present, he is working in a private company.

4. The stand of the petitioner is that although he was born on 12.11.1982, at the time of his school admission, his parents had inadvertently entered his date of birth as 19.03.1982. Hence, the said date of birth was entered in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate. Whereas in the Birth Certificate issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths, Nagercoil Municipality, his date of birth is correctly registered as 12.11.1982. Without adverting to the Birth Certificate, his date of birth was wrongly entered in the 10th Standard School Leaving Certificate. Therefore, he is put to irreparable hardships.

5. The plea of the petitioner is that he had approached the educational authorities for altering the date of birth on par with the birth certificate. He could not get any fruitful reply. Also in a similar circumstance, one Rajesh Kumar filed W.P. (MD) No. 9340 of 2009 and this Court, on 18.09.2012, at paragraph Nos.30 to 32, had observed the following:-

“30. As stated supra, as per the birth certificate issued by the Sub Registrar, Thiruvattar enclosed in the typed set of papers, the name of the child entered in the said certificate is S. Rajesh Kumar. The date of birth has been shown as 19.01.1975. When the statute provides for correction or cancellation of an entry in the register of births and deaths maintained by the Sub-Registrar after coming into force of the Act, the said certificate can be relied on for making necessary changes in public records which includes the records maintained in the office of the Director of Government Examinations Chennai. The contention of the respondents that the said correction can be made only before the student leaves the school and not later, cannot be accepted for the reason that any entry in the birth certificate by virtue of registration or alteration or cancellation by the competent authority under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, has to be given effect to otherwise, the purpose for registration or alteration or modification would be defeated. There cannot be different entries in the public records maintained by different authorities, one under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 and the other by the educational authorities. The date of birth as entered in the birth extract has to be entered in all the public records uniformly, unless and until any statutory rules, restrict such entry, like in the case of a Government servant, governed by the Tamil Nadu State and Subordinate Services Rules. In the light of the above discussion, this Court is not inclined to accept the objections of the educational authorities made on the basis of the Subsidiary rules framed before the introduction of the Central Act, 1969.

31. In the light of the decision made in W.P. No. 9800 of 2009, dated 21.10.2009 in R. Deepak Vs. The Chairman Tamil Nadu Uniform Service Recruitment Board, Chennai and Others, the certificate issued by the competent authority under Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 and other supporting documents relied on by the present writ petitioner has to be considered.

32. For the foregoing reasons, the writ petition is allowed. There shall be a direction to the respondents to consider the birth extract and other evidence produced by the petitioner while considering his representation, dated 03.09.2009 and make necessary changes, in the date of birth as 19.01.1975 in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate and the Higher Secondary Course and other certificates. The petitioner is at liberty to make a representation to the respondents along with a copy