Delhi HC Directs Correction of Matriculation Date of Birth to Match Public Records

The Delhi High Court allowed the petition, holding that CBSE could not disregard foundational public documents. The Court further ruled that the petitioner is entitled to seek correction of the document to ensure consistency with all public records, including the Aadhaar Card, Passport, and Birth Certificate.

A Single-judge bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh heard a writ petition in which the petitioner challenged the date of birth recorded in his Class X certificate and sought a direction to the Central Board of Secondary Education to correct the entry from 01.10.2003 to 01.10.2002.

The Court allowed the petition and directed the respondent board to correct the date of birth in the Class X certificate to make it consistent with other public documents. The Court noted reliance on earlier authority and statutory records and observed that the Board could not ignore foundational public documents.

The Court, in its reasoning, observed: With respect to the contention raised by Mr. Niyazi that there are two valid birth certificates issued by competent authorities, I am not inclined to entertain this objection as the validity of any of the two certificates is not in question before this Court. The controversy before this Court is limited to the extent that the petitioner is seeking correction in his date of birth in his Class Xth certificate to make it consistent with the other public documents issued by government authorities. The date of 01.10.2002 as stated by the petitioner, is consistent with his hospital records and the public documents namely, Aadhaar Card and Passport, which are government documents based on valid verification of entries therein and duly show the date of birth of the petitioner as 01.10.2002.

Background

The petitioner stated that he was born on 01.10.2002 at Holy Family Hospital, New Delhi and produced a birth certificate issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi under Section 12 & 17 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 showing the date of birth as 01.10.2002. He explained that an erroneous birth certificate issued by the Government of Uttar Pradesh recorded his date of birth as 01.10.2003, which was used for school admission and consequently the Class X certificate recorded the same incorrect date. The petitioner further stated that a fresh passport and his Aadhaar Card recorded the date of birth as 01.10.2002 and that he had lodged a police complaint about a missing earlier passport. "In case the present petition is not allowed, the petitioner would be having two date of births, one shown in the Aadhaar Card, Passport bearing No. AM470390 and the Birth Certificate, and the other in the Class Xth Certificate, which is impermissible, contrary to law and cannot be allowed," the judgment recorded from the petitioner’s submissions.

The Court observed that the controversy was settled by a Division Bench decision of this Court in Central Board of Secondary Education v. Prema Evelyn D Cruz and Anr., wherein a record correction was directed even after a long lapse, and that the principle in Jigya Yadav v. CBSE recognised that there could only be one date of birth for a person. The Court therefore treated the municipal birth certificate, Aadhaar and passport as consistent governmental records and held that the board should take due notice of such public documents and effect the consequential correction in its records. The petitioner’s representation to the respondent authorities was noted to have been earlier declined on limitation and proof grounds, but the Court found no prejudice to the respondents in correcting the Class X entry.

Accordingly, the petition was allowed and the respondents were directed to correct the date of birth in the Class X certificate from 01.10.2003 to 01.10.2002 to make it consistent with other public documents. No other relief was granted and the petition was disposed of in the aforesaid terms.

Case Details:
Case No.: W.P.(C) No. 5617/2026
Case Title: SHAYAN AMIR v. CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (CBSE) & ORS.
Appearances:
For the Petitioner(s): Mr. Faiyaz Hasan, Mr. Nadeem Khan, Advocates
For the Respondent(s): Mr. M.A. Niyazi, Advocate, Senior Counsel for CBSE with Ms. Anamika Ghai Niyazi; Ms. Kirti Bharadwaj, Advocate; Ms. Nehmat Sethi, Advocate; Mr. Adnan Naqash, Advocate for R-1; Adv. Siddhant Nath (Standing Counsel MCD), Adv. Bhavishya Makhija, Adv. Amaan Khan for R-2; Mr. Puneet Mittal, Senior Advocate with Ms. Sakshi Mendiratta, Advocate for R-3.

Source: 2026 CaseBase(DEL) 292