IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE T.R.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR FRIDAY, THE 5TH MARCH 2010 / 14TH PHALGUNA 1931 WP(C).No. 5789 of 2010(W) -------------------------------------- PETITIONER: ------------------- VYSAKH M.V., S/O.VALSAN M.G., MULLANGATH HOUSE, PERINGANAM P.O., CHAKKARAPADAM, THRISSUR DISTRICT. BY ADV. MR.RAJESH CHAKYAT. RESPONDENTS: ------------------------ 1. CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION, REGION OFFICE,NEW PLOT NO.3(OLD PLOT NO.1630/A) (J BLOCK),ANNA NAGER WEST,CHENNAI-40,REP. BY THE DEPUTY SECRETARY,CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION, REGIONAL OFFICE,NEW PLOT NO.3,ANNA NAGER WEST,CHENNAI. 2. THE REGIONAL OFFICER,CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION,NEW PLOT NO.3(OLD PLOT NO.1630/A),(J BLOCK),ANNA NAGER WEST,CHENNAI-40. 3. THE PRINCIPAL, S.N.VIDYABHAVAN, S.S SCHOOL, CHENTRAPINI, THRISSUR DISTRICT. R1 & R2 BY MR. DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN, SC, CBSE. THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 05/03/2010,THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: prv. T.R. RAMACHANDRAN NAIR, J. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ W.P.(C). No.5789/2010-W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dated this the 5th day of March, 2010 J U D G M E N T The petitioner is aggrieved by the non consideration of his application for correcting the date of birth in the school leaving certificates, by the respondents herein. 2. The petitioner is currently completing his B.Com at Christ College, Irinjalakuda and is planning to do his Post Graduation/MBA at England. He passed the All India Secondary School Examination (10th standard) in the year 2005 from the third respondent's school. Exts.P1 and P2 are the certificate and the statement of marks for the secondary school examination. Thereafter, he has completed All India Senior School Certificate Examination (12th standard) in the year 2007. 3. According to the petitioner, his correct date of birth is 06/01/1989. Ext.P2 is the copy of the birth certificate issued by the local authority, viz. the Methala Grama Panchayat which shows that the date of birth is 06/01/1989. Ext.P3 is the application submitted by the petitioner to correct the date of birth entry in Ext.P1 certificate. 4. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that on enquiry, he came to know that in similar W.P.(C). No.5789/2010 -:2:- circumstances the respondents are rejecting the applications, placing reliance on Byelaw 69.2 of the Byelaws of the CBSE, stating that the application for correction of date of birth will be entertained only within two years of the date of declaration of result of class X examination. 5. The question whether the outer time limit provided in the Bye-law can be taken as a bar for exercising the power was considered by a learned Single Judge of this Court in W.P.(C) No.25028/2008. It was held in paragraph 4 of W.P.(C).No.25028/2008 thus : “In so far as the bye-law is concerned, the same is not statutory in nature. Therefore, I do not think that the prescription in the bye-law is absolute in nature. At the best it is only directory in nature. Therefore, in appropriate cases the respondents can make correction of the date of birth even beyond the period prescribed therein. In fact, it has been held so by a learned Single Judge of this Court in W.P. (C) No.37476/2004. I am in complete agreement with the said decision. Therefore, I am satisfied that the W.P.(C). No.5789/2010 -:3:- respondents are liable to correct the date of birth of the petitioner in the school records as well as Exts.P1 and P2, if the petitioner with sufficient documents, proves that his date of birth is 14.4.1990.” Therefore, it cannot be taken as a clause stipulating any bar of limitation and the period provided can only be termed as a period for the benefit of the administrative authorities alone. I respectfully agree with the view taken in the said Judgment. 6. The petitioner is relying upon the Judgment of a Division Bench in W.A. No.1949/2008 and connected cases which is produced as Ext.P5, to contend that in similar circumstances, this Court directed that the entries could be corrected, even if the application is submitted beyond two years. An interim order passed by this Court on 1.4.2009 has been extracted therein. Ext.P5 evidences the fact that the Division Bench was of the view that in the interest of poor students who are placed in the unfortunate situation, the CBSE should consider their cases sympathetically. It was also mentioned that the correction is not for any undue or unmerited advantage like extension in service, but only for reconciling the date of birth as appearing in the Register of Registrar of Births and Deaths. W.P.(C). No.5789/2010 -:4:- 7. In the light of the directions issued by the Division Bench also, the petitioner is entitled to succeed in this writ petition. 8. Therefore, the writ petition is disposed of with the following directions. The petitioner is directed to forward the application along with the required documents to the respondents for correction of date of birth in the school records. On receipt of the same, needful shall be done by the respondents for correcting the same after verifying the documents, within a further period of one month. The writ petition is disposed of as above. No costs. (T.R. Ramachandran Nair, Judge.) ms