Judgment

14 th January, 2019

1. By way of this petition, the petitioner is seeking directions to the respondent Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to correct the names of her mother and father in her Statement of Marks of Class-XII, Certificate of Passing and Migration Certificate. 2. The facts relevant are that the names of the petitioner’s father and mother are Mr. Muraleedharan J.T. and Mrs. Manjumol C.P., however, in the mark-sheet of petitioner’s Class-X Examination issued by the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), New Delhi, their names were entered as Mualeedharan JI and Manju Murali respectively. Consequently, while seeking admission in Class-XII, which the petitioner has passed from CBSE, the names of her father and mother were mentioned as Mualeedharan and Manju Murali respectively, and thus, in the mark-sheet of her Senior School Certificate Examination 2018 issued by the CBSE, their names have been entered accordingly.

3. The petitioner’s father Muraleedharan J.T. is a Government employee of General Reserve Engineer Force under Ministry of Defence. The petitioner has placed on record, the Service Certificate of her father issued by the competent authority, wherein, his name is mentioned as Muraleedharan J.T. The petitioner’s father made application to CISCE as also to the CBSE for correction of the name in the documents. Pursuant to the application made, after correction of the names, CISCE has issued Statement of Marks and Certificate of Secondary Education after correcting the names as applied for, however, CBSE has declined to make the necessary corrections as prayed for. Hence, this petition.

4. A reply to the writ petition has been filed on behalf of the CBSE stating that for correction of the names, the amended Rule 69.1 of the CBSE Examination Bye-laws is applicable to the candidates whose results have been declared after 25.6.15. Since the result of the petitioner was declared on 26.5.18, according to the CBSE, the change in the candidate name, mother name and father name shall be governed by amended Rule 69.1(i) and any correction in name shall be governed by amended Rule 69.1(ii). It is submitted that in the instant case the petitioner is claiming change in the names and surnames of her parents and therefore, she was required to follow the procedure as contained in Rule 69.1(i) within the stipulated time i.e. before the declaration of result and thus, now she is not entitled to get her parents’ name and surnames changed in the mark-sheet of Class-XII issued on

26.5.18.

5. Rule 69.1 of the Examination Bye-laws relied upon by the respondent-CBSE reads as under :

“69.1(i)

(Change in Candidate Name, Mother Name & Father Name)

Applications regarding changes in name of surname of candidates will be considered provided the changes have been admitted by the Court of law and notified in the Government Gazette before the publication of the result of the candidate. In cases of change in documents after the court orders caption will be mentioned on the document “CHANGE ALLOWED IN NAME/FATHER’S NAME/MOTHER’S NAME/GUARDIAN’S NAME FROM____ TO ____ ON (DATED)_____ AS PER COURT ORDER NO.____ DATED____.” ”

6. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner contended that it was only an inadvertent error that the names of the petitioner’s father and mother were mentioned in her Statement of the Marks for Class-X and Certificate of passing as “Mualeedharan” and “Manju Murali” instead of “Muraleedharan J.T.” and “Manjumol C.P.” respectively, which now stand corrected by CISCE and the corrected Statement of Marks and Certificate have already been issued. It is submitted that the names in the petitioner’s Statement of Marks of Class-XII Examination and Certificate of passing, the names of her mother and father were mentioned as appearing in Class-X mark-sheet and certificate and since, the corrected mark-sheet has now been issued by the CISCE, there is no reason why the CBSE on the basis of the correction