Initial Admission To KG Can’t Be Declared Void Ab Initio Merely Because Parents Furnished Incorrect Date Of Birth Projecting Child To Be One Month Younger: Delhi High Court
The parents of a boy approached the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to rectify records to reflect his correct date of birth.
Justice Vikas Mahajan, Delhi High Court
While granting relief to the parents of a boy who had already passed his Class X and Class XI in a date of birth dispute case, the Delhi High Court has held that his initial admission to KG cannot be declared void ab initio merely on the ground that the parents furnished an incorrect date of birth, projecting him to be younger by one month at the time of his initial admission.
The petitioner’s parents approached the High Court seeking a direction to the Respondents to rectify and/or amend their records to reflect his correct date of birth.
The Single Bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan held, “At this distant point in time, when the petitioner has continuously and successfully pursued his education in the school for nearly a decade and has already passed Class X and Class XI, his initial admission to KG cannot be declared void ab initio, as sought to be contended by Mr. Dalal, merely on the ground that the parents of the petitioner furnished an incorrect date of birth, projecting the petitioner to be younger by one month at the time of his initial admission.”
“While the Court has come to the conclusion that no fault can be found with the petitioner, the parents of the petitioner cannot be allowed to go scot-free, as they appear to have deliberately furnished incorrect information and a document with regard to his date of birth, and thereby resorted to unethical means. Therefore, this Court is of the view that the aforesaid directions shall be subject to the payment of exemplary costs”, it added.
Advocate Sameer Rohatgi represented the Petitioner while Advocate Sachin Singh Dalal represented the Respondent.
Factual Background
The petitioner was admitted to the respondent/school in 2014. At the time of the petitioner’s admission to kindergarten (KG), due to an inadvertent error on the part of the parents of the petitioner, the petitioner’s date of birth was recorded in the school records as March 23, 2010, instead of April 23, 2010. The petitioner claimed that the date of April 23, 2010, which the petitioner asserted to be the correct date of birth, was consistently reflected in all other public records of the petitioner. These included a date of birth certificate issued by the Sub Registrar/Registrar of Births & Deaths, Delhi, the Aadhaar Card and the Passport of the petitioner, as well as the records of “Kolmet Hospital & Medical Research Centre” where the petitioner was born.
The petitioner’s father submitted an application to the Regional Officer of the CBSE, marking a copy to the Principal of the school, requesting the correction of the petitioner’s date of birth. However, despite this request, no steps were taken either by the school or by the CBSE to carry out the necessary correction in their records.
Reasoning
Referring to the relevant Bye-Laws of the CBSE, the Bench explained that CBSE can correct the date of birth or other details in the certificate issued by it if the error is typographical in nature, so as to make it consistent with the school records. It was further noted that the Bye-Laws also mention that the correction in the date of birth of candidates will be carried out provided such correction has been admitted by a Court of Law.
“As can be seen from the above-quoted Bye-Laws, there is no impediment for the Court to order the correction of the date of birth for reasons other than those for which the CBSE can independently carry out such correction. In other words, the discretion of the Court to order correction of the date of birth is not confined to make the CBSE records consistent with the school records”, it added.
The Bench noted that at the time of admitting the petitioner to the school for the academic session 2014-2015 in Kindergarten (KG), a wrong was committed by the parents of the petitioner in furnishing an incorrect date of birth along with some supporting documents. However, the petitioner already passed Class X and Class XI and was currently a student of Class XII in the school. It was also not the case of the respondents that the petitioner would have been ineligible to take the Class X board examination on the basis of his correct date of birth, i.e. April 23, 2010, as borne out from the contemporaneous public records.
The Bench considered the fact that if there is any inconsistency in the date of birth of the petitioner as reflected in Class X certificate vis-a-vis other statutory and public documents, it will result in serious impediments, including, but not limited to, rejection or unnecessary delays in the admission process of the petitioner, besides raising doubt as his identity.
Taking a lenient view, the Bench asked the petitioner to move an appropriate application for the rectification of the date of birth before the school and the CBSE, along with all the requisite documents, viz., the Birth Certificate, Aadhaar Card, and Passport. “Further, the petitioner’s correct date of birth, i.e., 23.04.2010 shall also be registered by the CBSE for the purposes of the Class XII Board Examinations, which the petitioner will be taking in the next year”, it ordered.
The Bench concluded the matter by imposing a cost of Rs 2 lakh to be deposited by the petitioner’s parents within 2 weeks.
Cause Title: Master Aarav Giri v. St. Columbas School (Neutral Citation: 2026:DHC:5724)
Appearance
Appellant: Advocates Sameer Rohatgi, Namit Suri, Rameezuddin Raja, Preetpal Singh, Anish
Respondent: Advocates Sachin Singh Dalal, Akshat Singh, Joe Sebastian, Atul Kumar, Arnav Kumar