The central legal point established in the judgment is that the Central legislation prevails over state rules in matters of correction of date of birth in school certificates.

JUDGMENT :

Subramonium Prasad, J.

(Prayer: Appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent against the order, dated 11/7/2018, passed in W.P.No.16510 of 2018.)

1. Order, dated 11/7/2018, passed in W.P.No.16510 of 2018 has been assailed in the instant writ appeal.

2. Facts in brief are as follows:-

Appellant states that she was born, on 17/7/1997, in Madurai. She completed her X and XIII standards. Her Date of Birth is mentioned as 17/5/1997 in School certificates instead of her actual Date of Birth i.e., 17/7/1997. Hence, the petitioner gave a representation, dated 20/4/2018, requesting alteration of her Date of Birth, but it was not replied to, which led the petitioner to file writ petition No.16510 of 2018, to direct the respondents, to correct the date of the petitioner’s birth to 17/7/1997 instead of 17/5/1997, in 10th and +2 mark sheets.

3. Learned Single Judge, vide, order, dated 11/7/2018, rejected the writ petition, placing reliance on Rule 5 of the Tamil Nadu Secondary Education Certification Rules, which reads as under:-

“5. Entries in regard to name, date of birth, etc., and Schools attended -Entries Nos.1 to 8 on page 1 of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate should be filled in as a rule at the commencement of the IX Standard course or as soon as the certificate is provided.

It sometimes becomes necessary to alter the name of the pupil, or of the father or guardian, as entered in the certificate. In such cases, heads of schools may, for valid reasons make the necessary alteration. Applications for such changes must not, however, be entertained after a pupil has completed his school course and appeared for the SSLC Public Examination.

When the Secondary School Leaving Certificate is opened on behalf of the pupil, care should be taken to ascertain the correct date of birth and enter that date in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate. If the date of birth proposed to be entered in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate does not differ from the date entered already in the admission register of the School, no evidence need be demanded from the parent or guardian of the pupil, but a declaration to the effect that the date of birth entered in the school register is the correct date of birth of the pupil and that no alteration of that date will be demanded in future on the plea that the correct date was not given at the time of admission should be invariably taken from the parent or guardian and filed in the School.

In all cases, where the date proposed to be entered in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate differs from the one already entered in the School admission register, the parent or guardian should be required to produce either a certified birth extract from the Register of Births and Deaths maintained by a public authority of a Baptism certificate (in the case of Christian pupils only) for the correct date. A declaration to the effect that the certificate produced relates to the pupil in question and to none else should also be taken. In cases where birth extracts cannot be produced for valid reasons a declaration made before the head of the school or any evidence that he or she may regard as satisfactory may be accepted.

The approval of the Inspecting Officer should be taken by heads of institutions only in cases where the date of birth claimed on behalf of the pupil at the time of opening of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate differs from the date originally entered in the admission regarding the correct age and also correctness of particulars under items 1 to 6 of the first page should be made and signed by the parent or where there is no parent alive, by the guardian in the presence of the headmaster. In cases where the parent or the guardian as the case may be could not come to the school, his declaration in the form should be obtained and pasted in the SSLC Book.

These statements should be filed in the School for further reference. If this is done, there will be no need for making any alteration therei