Judgment:
$~43 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of decision:
15. h January, 2019 + W.P.(C) 6147/2018 MASTER UTKARSH RAJ THROUGH: HIS MOTHER & NATURAL GUARDIAN SMT. SANGITA ........ Petitioner
Through: Mr. Harkirat Sawhney, Adv. versus THE REGIONAL OFFICER (CBSE) AND ANR. Through: Mr. Ashok Kumar, Adv. for ........ RESPONDENTS
R-1 Ms. Rashmi Bansal and Mr. Abdullah Tanveer, Advs. for R-2 CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR % JUDGMENT
(ORAL) The petitioner Utkarsh Raj is a Class XII student of the 1. Kendriya Vidyalaya, Delhi Cantonment. He has moved this Court, by means of the present writ petition, with a prayer for issuance of a direction, to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to change the name of his mother, as reflected in his Class X Grade Sheet cum Performance Certificate from “Sangeeta Raj” to “Sangita”.
2. In support of his claim, the petitioner submits, in this writ petition, that the name of his mother, in all statutory documents, such W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 1 of 10 as the Aadhaar Card and the PAN Card is shown as “Sangita”, sans the “Raj” suffix.
3. Mr. Harkirat Sawhney, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has drawn my attention to the extant guidelines, of the CBSE, governing the cases involving changes and corrections in the names of the candidate or her/his parents. It may be noted that, with effect from 25th June, 2015, the said Guidelines, as contained in Clauses “(i) and (ii)” of Bye-law 69.1 of the applicable Bye-laws of the CBSE, were amended. The pre amendment and post amendment Bye-laws may, for ready reference be reproduced as under : Rule No.69.1(i) Existing Rule Amended Rule in of name Change candidate/Father/Mother/Gu ardian once entered in the Board's record at any stage while studying in Class IX, X, XI, XII or thereafter, within a period of ten years from the date of issue of first shall be such document considered on written request of the considered, Candidate (not minor)/father/mother/guardi an duly forwarded by the Head of Institution supported by the following documents: the name Applications regarding changes in or surname of candidate may be considered provided the changes been admitted by the Court of Law and notified in the Government Gazette before the publication of the result of the candidate. have W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 2 of 10 a) Original copy of two newspapers (daily English/Hindi newspaper at National level & daily newspaper in a vernacular language circulated in the locality), the desired change has been published. in which b) Original Affidavit duly sworn before the Judicial Magistrate, First Class/Metropolitan Magistrate/Executive Magistrate/Sub Divisional Magistrate. copy c) Original of Publication in Government Gazette. d) Payment of prescribed fee. e) True copy of admission form filled in by the parents duly updated as per Gazette Notification desired change and duly attested by the Head of the concerned institution. of f) True copy of School Leaving Certificate at the previous school submitted by the parent/candidate at the time of admission and updated as per Gazette desired Notification of W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 3 of 10 69.1(ii) change, duly attested by the Head of concerned institution. the g) True copy of the page of admission and withdrawal register of the school where the entry has been made in respect of candidate showing updation as per Gazette Notification desired change, duly attested by the Head of concerned institution. the of errors, correction Correction in name to the in extent of spelling factual typographical errors in the candidate’s name/surname, father’s name/mother’s name or guardian’s name to make it consistent with what is given in the school record or list of candidates (LOC) submitted by the school may be made. Application for correction in name of candidate/father’s/mother’s/ guardian’s name will be considered only within ten of years of declaration result provided the application of the candidate is forwarded date the of errors, Correction in name to the in extent of correction spelling factual typographical errors in the Candidate’s Father’s name/Surname, name/Mother’s name or Guardian’s name to make it consistent with what is given in the school record list of candidates (LOC) submitted by the school may be made. name Application for correction in of Candidate/father’s/mother’ s/guardian’s name will be considered only within one the date of year of declaration result provided the application of the candidate is forwarded of W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 4 of 10 by the Head of Institution with the following attested documents: by the Head of institution with the following attested documents: of copy a) True of admission form(s) filled in by the parents at the time of admission duly attested by the Head of the concerned institution. b) True copy of the Leaving School the Certificate previous school submitted by the parents of the candidate at the time of admission duly attested by the Head of the concerned institution. c) True copy of the portion of the page of admission and withdrawal register of the school where the entry has been made in respect of the candidate, duly attested by the Head of the concerned institution. in by a) True copy of Admission form(s) filled the parents at time of admission duly attested by the Head of the concerned institution. the the parents of b) True copy of the School Leaving Certificate of the previous school submitted by the candidate at time of admission duly attested by the Head of the concerned institution. the c) True copy of the portion of the page of admission and withdrawal register of the school where the entry has been made in respect of the candidate, duly attested by the Head of the concerned institution. effect The Board may necessary corrections after verification of the Original records of the school and on payment of the prescribed fee. W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 5 of 10 4. Mr. Sawhney points out that Bye-law 69.1(i) would not apply to his case, as the amended Bye-law covered only cases of change in name or surname of the candidates. Bye law 69.1(ii), he submits, covers cases of correction in the names of the candidate or her/his parents. Mr. Sawhney seeks to pigeonhole his case within the said clause.
5. Mr. Sawhney relies, in his support, on the judgment of a Division Bench of this Court in Arya Kariyatil Chendakera v. Central Board of Secondary Education., 2018 SCC OnLine Del 8402.
6. Per contra, Mr. Ashok Kumar, learned counsel for the CBSE, would seek to contend that clause 69.1(ii) is clearly not applicable, as the said clause only covers cases where correction is sought in order to make the changed name “consistent with what is given in the school record”. He submits that, even as per the affidavit filed by the Respondent No.2 – School in the present case, the school record reflected the name of the petitioner’s mother as “Sangeeta Raj”. As such, Mr. Ashok Kumar, would submit that the change sought by the petitioner would result in disharmony between the CBSE’s marksheet and the school record of the petitioner, which would be contrary to Bye-law 69.1(ii).
7. Apropos Bye-law 69.1(i), Mr. Ashok Kumar would seek to submit that the word “candidates”, as used in the said Bye-law, is W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 6 of 10 necessarily required to be interpreted as including the candidates as well as their parents.
8. Mr. Ashok Kumar would also seek to rely on a judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in Mazhar Saleem Chandroth (Minor) Thr. Saleem Chandroth (Father and Natural Guardian) v. CBSE2018SCC OnLine Del 8401.
9. I have considered the rival submissions and applied my mind to the issue at hand.
10. The submission, of Mr. Sawhney, that the case of his client cannot be brought within the ambit of Bye-law 69.1(i) is, in my view, clearly unexceptional. The said Bye-law, as amended with effect from 25th June, 2015, covers only changes in the name or surname of candidates, and not of their parents. Why, or for what reason, the CBSE decided, while amending the Bye-law, to do away with cases of change in the name of the parents of the candidates, is anybody’s guess. Suffice it to state that it is not for this Court to rewrite the Bye- law, which has been framed by the CBSE, which is not under challenge before this Court.
11. I find substance, therefore, in the submission of Mr. Sawhney that Bye-law 69.1(i) cannot be invoked either by his client or by the CBSE. W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 7 of 10 12. For that reason, the reliance, by Mr. Ashok Kumar on the judgment in Mazhar Saleem Chandroth (supra) has to be treated as misguided, as the said judgment dealt with the case of a change in name of the candidate, and, therefore, invoked Bye-law 69.1(i).
13. Apropos Bye-law 69.1(ii), undoubtedly, if one were to read the said Bye-law, it would appear that it can be invoked only in order to bring the record of the CBSE in line with the school record. At the same time, sitting singly, I cannot ignore the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in Arya Kariyatil Chendakera (supra), which dealt with the case of change of name of the candidate’s parents, and also notes the fact that the school records recorded the wrong name. A reading of para 2 of the said judgment clearly reveals that the contention of the petitioner in that case was that her, and her parents names were “Arya Kariyatil Chandakera”, “Kariyatil Chendakera Deleep Kumar” and “Kavitha Deleep” whereas the school records inadvertently noted them as “Arya K C”, “K C Dilip” and “Kavitha Dilip”. As such, this case, too, dealt with a situation in which the corrections/changes sought were contrary to the entries contained in the school records.
14. Despite the said fact, the Division Bench of this Court has held that the change of name of the mother of the appellant from “Kavitha Dilip” to “Kavitha Deleep” and, even more particularly, of her father from “K C Dilip” to “Kariyatil Chendakera Deleep Kumar” (i.e. with W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 8 of 10 the addition of the “Kumar” suffix) came within the sphere of Bye-law 69.1(ii) and, on that ground, allowed the claim of the petitioner.
15. In my view, the case of the present petitioner cannot be distinguished from that of the petitioner in Arya Kariyatil Chendakera (supra). As in that case, in the present case, too, the change sought is not in the name of the petitioner [as was the case in Mazhar Saleem Chandroth (supra)]., but in the name of the petitioner’s parent. In Arya Kariyatil Chendakera, the Court brought the case within the ambit of Bye-law 69.1(ii). Following thereupon, this Court permitted in the case of the father of the petitioner in that case, (i) expansion of his initials from “K C” to “Kariyatil Chendakera”, (ii) change of the spelling of his name, from “Dilip” to “Deleep” and (iii) addition of the suffix “Kumar”.
16. In the present case, all that is sought is change of the spelling of the petitioner’s mother from “Sangeeta” to “Sangita” and deletion of the suffix “Raj”. I do not see how the present case can be distinguished, in any manner, from the case of Arya Kariyatil Chendakera (supra) which, being a judgment rendered by a Division Bench of this Court, is squarely binding on me.
17. It is also significant, in this context, to note that the changes sought are supported by the entries, regarding the name of the petitioner’s mother, as entered in her Aadhaar Card and her PAN Card, which are statutory documents and are, therefore, entitled to W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 9 of 10 considerable value, inter alia, by virtue of Section 114 of the Evidence Act.
18. The petitioner admittedly approached the CBSE, for change/correction of the name of his mother, within the prescribed period, as per the Bye-laws, referred to hereinabove.
19. In view thereof, I am of the view that the writ petition is entitled to succeed. It is accordingly allowed. The CBSE is directed to correct the name of the petitioner, in her Class X Grade Sheet cum Performance Certificate from “Sangeeta Raj” to “Sangita” by way of issuance of a fresh certificate containing the corrected name. The petitioner would be required, for the said purpose, to deposit the original certificate, containing the uncorrected name, with the CBSE which he is directed to do within a period of one week from today. The requisite corrections be effected by the CBSE within four weeks thereof.
20. There shall be no order as to costs. JANUARY15 2019/kr C.HARI SHANKAR, J W.P.(C) 6147/2018 Page 10 of 10