Secr.,Board Of Secon.Edu.,Orissa vs Santosh Kumar Sahoo & Anr

3. Respondent No.1 appeared in the supplementary examination conducted by the appellant in 1983 as an Ex-student of G. Udayagiri Hubback High School. In the Admission Card and Provisional Certificate issued by the appellant, the date of birth of respondent No.1 was shown as 10.05.1964. However, in the matriculation certificate his date of birth came to be recorded as 10.05.1961. Upon receipt of the matriculation certificate, respondent No.1 contacted Headmaster of the school (respondent No.2) who is said to have assured him that he will write to the appellant for making necessary correction. Thereafter, respondent No.1 met the concerned officers of the appellant and handed over the matriculation certificate and letter written by respondent No.2. Respondent No.2 is said to have written another letter dated 19.8.1998 to the appellant for making necessary correction in the date of birth recorded in the matriculation certificate of respondent No.1, but without any result. On its part, the appellant is said to have sent 2-3 communications to respondent No.2 between 1988 and 1991 requiring him to furnish the admission register and copy of the cancelled transfer certificate for the purpose of verification of the date of birth of 3 respondent No.1 but the latter did not respond. On 30.6.1992, the appellant returned original certificate of respondent No.1 without making correction and directed respondent No.2 to submit the relevant records at the certificate distribution camp for checking the date of birth of respondent No.1.

4. After 12 years of his appearing in the examination and more than 3 years of the return of original certificate to respondent No.2, respondent No.1 filed complaint under Sec.12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short, `the Act') for issue of a direction to the appellant to correct his date of birth recorded in the matriculation certificate and also pay compensation for mental and physical agony and loss of his employment prospects by claiming that he was a consumer and there was deficiency of service on the appellant's part. Respondent No.1 pleaded that he had suffered incalculable loss because his candidature was rejected by various recruiting agencies/authorities on the ground of non-production of original matriculation certificate.

7. By an order dated 15.09.1995, the District Forum allowed the complaint and directed the appellant and respondent No.2 to carry out necessary correction in the date of birth recorded in the matriculation certificate of respondent No.1 and issue revised certificate within 45 days. The District Forum also awarded compensation of Rs.10,000 against the appellant and Rs.2,000 against respondent No.2 apart from the cost of Rs.1,000.

9. In the appeal filed against the order of the District Forum, the appellant made specific mention of the enquiry report and pleaded that in view of the finding recorded by the Deputy Secretary that the very admission of respondent No.1 was based on a fake document, his prayer for correction of the recorded date of birth should be rejected. This is clearly borne out from paragraph `g' of the memo of appeal, which is reproduced below:

14. In the result, the appeal is allowed. The impugned order of the National Commission as also the orders passed by the District Forum and State Commission are set aside and the matter is remitted to the District Forum for fresh adjudication of the complaint filed by respondent No.1. The District Forum shall decide the objection raised on behalf of the appellant to the very maintainability of the complaint as also the issue of limitation. The District Forum shall also consider the report of the Deputy Secretary of the Board after giving an opportunity to respondent No.1 to submit his reply in the context of the findings and conclusion recorded therein and then pass appropriate order. The parties are left to bear their own costs.

................................J. [G.S. Singhvi] ...............................J. [Asok Kumar Ganguly] 12 New Delhi, July 7, 2010.