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2018 DIGILAW 1244 (GUJ)

Vasudev Prahladbhai Patel v. State of Gujarat

2018-12-05

VIPUL M.PANCHOLI

body2018
JUDGMENT : V.M. PANCHOLI, J. 1. Rule. Mr. Rohan Yagnik, learned Assistant Government Pleader, waives service of notice of Rule for respondent Nos. 1 and 3. Mrs. Kalpana K. Raval, learned advocate, waives service of notice of Rule for respondent No. 2. Though notice is served to respondent No. 4, nobody appears on his behalf. Looking to the issue involved in the present petition and with the consent of the learned advocates appearing for the petitioner and concerned respondents, the petition is being heard and decided finally. 2. By way of this petition, which is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed that respondent No. 4 be directed to correct the date of birth of the petitioner from 28.08.1975 to 09.09.1975 in the School Leaving Certificate issued by respondent No. 4. 3. Heard learned advocate Mr. J.V. Vaghela for the petitioner, learned Assistant Government Pleader Mr. Rohan Yagnik for respondent Nos. 1 and 3 and learned advocate Mrs. Kalpana K. Raval for respondent No. 2. 4. Learned advocate for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner was born on 09.09.1975. The date of the birth of the petitioner was registered with respondent No. 2 and respondent No. 2 issued the Birth Certificate in favour of the petitioner, copy of which is produced at Page-13 of the compilation. In the said certificate, correct date of birth of the petitioner is recorded as 09.09.1975. It is further submitted that the said birth date is also recorded in the Aadhar Card and Passport issued by the competent authority. However, in the School Leaving Certificate issued by respondent No. 4, by mistake, the date of birth of the petitioner is recorded as 28.08.1975. The petitioner has, therefore, requested respondent No. 4 by way of representation made in July, 2017 to correct the date of birth in the School Leaving Certificate. However, respondent No. 4 has not taken any decision on the said representation. 4.1 Learned advocate for the petitioner has placed reliance upon the order dated 13.02.2007 passed by this Court in Special Civil Application No. 3259 of 2007, order dated 05.05.2006 in Special Civil Application No. 8236 of 2006 and order dated 24.11.2011 passed by the Division Bench of this Court in Letters Patent Appeal No. 239 of 2011. 4.1 Learned advocate for the petitioner has placed reliance upon the order dated 13.02.2007 passed by this Court in Special Civil Application No. 3259 of 2007, order dated 05.05.2006 in Special Civil Application No. 8236 of 2006 and order dated 24.11.2011 passed by the Division Bench of this Court in Letters Patent Appeal No. 239 of 2011. Relying upon the aforesaid orders, it is contended that this Court can grant direction to the concerned authority for correction of the date of birth in the School Leaving Certificate relying upon the Birth Certificate issued by the competent authority under the provisions of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act of 1969" for short). He, therefore, urged that this Court may give appropriate direction to respondent No. 4. 5. Learned advocate appearing for respondent No. 2 has submitted that respondent No. 2 has issued Birth Certificate to the petitioner, in which, the correct date of birth is recorded. 6. Having heard learned advocates appearing for the parties and having gone through the material produced on record, it transpires that respondent No. 2 authority has issued Birth Certificate in favour of the petitioner wherein the correct date of birth is recorded as 09.09.1975. The said birth date is also recorded in the Aadhar Card and Passport issued by the competent authority. However, so far as the School Leaving Certificate is concerned, copy of which is produced at Page-12 of the compilation, date of birth of the petitioner is wrongly recorded as 28.08.1975. The petitioner has, therefore, requested respondent No. 4 for correction of the said birth date on the basis of the Birth Certificate issued by respondent No. 2. However, till date, no action is taken by respondent No. 4 on the said representation. 7. At this stage, this Court would like to refer the observations made by the learned Single Judge of this Court in the order dated 09.10.2006 passed in Special Civil Application No. 4337 of 2006, especially, Paragraph-9 thereof, which reads as under: "Para-9. Looking to the facts and circumstances of the case and, the Certificate issued under section 12 and 17 of The Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969 the prayer as prayed for is required to be granted since the documents at Annexure 'A' is a statutory Certificate, which has very high evidentiary value. Looking to the facts and circumstances of the case and, the Certificate issued under section 12 and 17 of The Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969 the prayer as prayed for is required to be granted since the documents at Annexure 'A' is a statutory Certificate, which has very high evidentiary value. So far as the facts, which are mentioned in the said Certificate at Annexure "A" reveal the date of birth of the petitioner as 28.08.1982. The details given in the Certificate have been recorded as per the statutory provision under the Act, 1969. The date of birth mentioned in Annexure "A" ought to have been reflected in Certificate at Annexure "B" issued by the respondent No. 2. The contention raised by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents that in pursuance of the Rule 12 of Gujarat Secondary Education Rules 1974, such amendment in the school leaving certificate is not permissible, once the student, present petitioner has left the school. This contention is not accepted by this Court mainly for the reason that errors are required to be corrected. The respondents are not error proof authorities. If the error has been accepted by the respondents denial of corrections of the documents is an arbitrary action. The only question, which is now left out is mandamus operandi for carrying out the corrections in school leaving certificate. There can be several methods of corrections of school leaving certificate like direct correction in the school leaving certificate itself or by keeping the certified copy of birth registration certificate issued by the State of Gujarat under Sections 12 and 17 of the Registration of Birth and Death Act 1969, by the concerned school in their register and amended copy of school leaving certificate can be given to the petitioner or by putting notes in margin that this amendment in the birth date is carried out as per the certificate issued by the State Government, but, total denial by the concerned respondents that they shall not amend the school leaving certificate, despite the certificate of birth issued by the State of Gujarat tantamounts to violation of public duty and hence, writ of mandamus is issued upon the concerned respondents to carry out necessary amendment in school leaving certificate on the basis of document issued by the State of Gujarat namely the Birth Certificate issued under the Act, 1969. It is for the concerned respondent school to keep and preserve a certified/original of Annexure "A" in the school register and thereafter, they can issue the corrected copy of school leaving certificate by putting necessary notes in the margin. But the error has to be corrected by the concerned respondents authorities. There cannot be any error, which cannot be corrected. Rule made absolute to the aforesaid extent with no order as to costs." 8. Similar observations were also made in Paragraph-8 of the order dated 13.02.2007 passed by the learned Single Judge in Special Civil Application No. 3259 of 2007, which reads as under: "Para-8. Looking to the facts and circumstances of the case and the Certificate issued under Sections 12 and 17 of the Act, the prayer as prayed for is required to be granted since the document at Annexure 'A' is a statutory Certificate, which has very high evidentiary value. So far as the facts, which are mentioned in the said Certificate at Annexure "A" reveals the date of birth of the petitioner is 12-12-1976. The details given in the Certificate have been recorded as per the statutory provision under the Act. The date of birth mentioned in Annexure 'A' ought to have been reflected in Certificate at Annexure "B" issued by the respondent No. 4. The contention raised by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents that in pursuance of the Rule 12 of the Gujarat Secondary Education Rules, 1974, such amendment in the School Leaving Certificate is not permissible, once the student, present petitioner has left the school. This contention is not accepted by this Court mainly for the reason that errors are required to be corrected. The respondents are not error proof authorities. If the error has been accepted by the respondents, denial of corrections of the documents is an arbitrary action. The only question which is now left out is mandamus operandi for carrying out the corrections in the School Leaving Certificate. The respondents are not error proof authorities. If the error has been accepted by the respondents, denial of corrections of the documents is an arbitrary action. The only question which is now left out is mandamus operandi for carrying out the corrections in the School Leaving Certificate. There can be several methods of corrections of School Certificate like direct corrections in the School Leaving Certificate itself or by keeping the certified copy of birth registration certificate issued by the State of Gujarat under Sections 12 and 17 of the Act, by the concerned School in their register and amended copy of School Leaving Certificate can be given to the petitioner or by putting notes in margin that this amendment in the birth date is carried out as per the certificate issued by the State Government, but, total denial by the concerned respondents that they shall not amend the School Leaving Certificate, despite the certificate of birth issued by the State of Gujarat tantamounts to violation of public duty and hence, writ of mandamus is issued upon the concerned respondents to carry out necessary amendment in School Leaving certificate on the basis of documents issued by the State of Gujarat, namely, the Birth Certificate issued under the Act. It is for the concerned respondent school to keep and preserve a certified/original of Annexure A in the School Register and thereafter, they can issue the corrected copy of School Leaving Certificate by putting necessary notes in the margin. But the error has to be corrected by the concerned respondents authorities. There cannot be any error, which cannot be corrected." 9. Similarly, in the another petition being Special Civil Application No. 8236 of 2006, vide order dated 05.05.2006, this Court disposed of the said petition, while giving directions to the concerned authority in Paragraphs-8 and 9, which read as under: "Para-8. Looking to the facts and circumstances of the case and, the Certificate issued under section 12 and 17 of The Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969 the prayer is given required to be granted since the documents at Annexure 'A' is a statutory Certificate, which has very high evidentiary value. So far as the facts, which are mentioned in the said Certificate at Annexure "A" reveals the date of birth of the petitioner is 20.11.1981. So far as the facts, which are mentioned in the said Certificate at Annexure "A" reveals the date of birth of the petitioner is 20.11.1981. The details given in the Certificate have been recorded as per the statutory provision under the Act, 1969. The date of birth mentioned in Annexure "A" ought to have been reflected in Certificate at Annexure "B" issued by the respondent No. 2. Para-9. Accordingly the respondent Nos. 2 is directed to make necessary changes in their records and Certificate, as stated hereinabove showing the correct date of birth of petitioner as 20.11.1981 instead of 20.11.1979. This exercise shall be done on before 19.05.2006. D.S. Permitted. Rule made absolute to the aforesaid extent." 10. The Division Bench of this Court in the order dated 24.11.2011 passed in Letters Patent Appeal No. 239 of 2011, even after considering the provisions of alternative remedy under the concerned regulation, observed in Paragraph-11 as under: "Para-11. This Court is, therefore, left with two alternatives, first being that to relegate the appellant to the Civil Court for pursuing his cause while setting aside the order impugned and secondly, to set aside the order impugned and, instead of insisting the appellant to pursue alternative remedy, exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and to issue a direction to the school authorities for making necessary correction, particularly when there is no dispute about the genuineness of the certificate of birth and the date of birth indicated therein. In our view, a citizen need not be made to run from pillar to post for such a genuine and petty cause and we deem it proper to opt for the second alternative in the peculiar facts of this case." 11. Keeping in view of the aforesaid orders passed by this Court from time to time, if the facts of the present case are considered, it can be said that the Birth Certificate issued by the competent authority under the provisions of the Act of 1969 is a statutory certificate, which has very high evidentiary value and respondent No. 4 has to consider the said aspect while correcting the date of birth in the School Leaving Certificate. 12. Thus, in the facts and circumstances of the present case, the relief prayed for by the petitioner is required to be granted. 12. Thus, in the facts and circumstances of the present case, the relief prayed for by the petitioner is required to be granted. Respondent No. 3 is hereby directed to make necessary changes in their record and Certificate, as observed hereinabove, showing the correct date of birth of the petitioner as 09.09.1975 in place of 28.08.1975. 13. With the aforesaid observation, the petition is allowed. Rule is made absolute accordingly. Direct Service is permitted.