In an appeal filed before the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to correct its record by changing the appellant’s date of birth from 14-09-2000 to 14-09-1999 as well as to issue a fresh 10th standard Examination Certificate, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia refused to interfere with the impugned judgment and dismissed the appeal while keeping it open for the appellant to seek an appropriate remedy.
There were two birth certificates issued under the Registration of Births and Death Act, 1969 (Act). The first certificate stated the appellant’s DOB to be 14-09-2000, whereas the second birth certificate stated it to be 14-09-1999. The appellant contended before the Single Judge that he had joined the National Defence Academy and after graduating, he joined the Indian Military Academy in 2021-22. When he visited the Passport Sewa Kendra on 21-07-2023 for obtaining a passport, he was informed that a passport had already been issued in his name in 2000 in which his DOB was 14-09-1999.
Thereafter, the appellant visited the website of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), procured his birth certificate having his DOB as 1999 and filed a writ petition which was dismissed by the impugned judgment. The Single Judge held that the certificate in which the correction was sought was issued on 28-05-2016, meaning that the procedure for change of DOB could be found in a notification dated 25-06-2015 issued by CBSE, which provided that an application for change of DOB, forwarded by the Head of the school, could be made only within one year from the date of declaration of result.
The Court agreed with the Single Judge’s findings since the Supreme Court, in Jigya Yadav v. CBSE & Ors. 2021 SCC OnLine SC 415 had held that fixation of time for seeking correction in DOB in CBSE’s certificates, as provided for by the Bye-Laws of CBSE, had to be followed. It was noted that the appellant never moved any application either to the CBSE or to the Head of the School. The Court said that it agreed to the Single Judge’s conclusion that prayer for correction in DOB would be barred by time as per CBSE’s notification dated 25-06-2016.
Further, the Court noted that the two birth certificates not only recorded different dates of birth but also different places of birth. It was said that based on such documents, no relief as prayed by the appellant could have been granted and that the writ petition had rightly been dismissed. The Court stated that unless and until the dispute regarding the appellant’s DOB is resolved by a competent court of law or by any other statutory mechanism available at a competent forum, giving a direction to CBSE would not be appropriate.
Thus, the Court dismissed the appeal, finding no infirmity in the impugned judgment.
The Court perused both birth certificates and found that both of them had been issued under the relevant provisions of the Act read with the Delhi Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 1999 (Rules). It was said that any correction in the certificates could be sought by the appellant by approaching the appropriate authority under Section 15 of the Act, and upon dissatisfaction from the same, a remedy of appeal was present under Section 25A.
The Court opined that instead of rushing to the Court, the appellant could have proceeded under Section 15 and thereafter, could have made a prayer to CBSE for incorporation of such correction in the certificate issued by it. It was stated that the appellant may also choose another course by approaching a competent court of civil jurisdiction seeking a declaration of his correct DOB by instituting proceedings of an appropriate suit, and the Court left it open for the appellant to seek appropriate remedy.
