Court may order correction of date of birth based on public documents despite inconsistency with school records.

The Petitioner was admitted to St. Columbas School (Respondent No. 1) in Kindergarten in 2014. His date of birth (DOB) was recorded as 23.03.2010 in school records

The Petitioner contends the correct DOB is 23.04.2010, as reflected in his birth certificate, Aadhaar, Passport, and hospital records

The School argued that the admission was granted based on the 23.03.2010 date, which fell within the eligibility window (01.04.2009–31.03.2010), and that a change now would render the initial admission void ab initio

CBSE (Respondent No. 2) maintained that as per its Bye-laws, it only corrects DOB to ensure consistency with school records, not to contradict them

1. Whether a direction can be issued for the correction of date of birth in the records of the CBSE when the same is consistent with the records of the school but inconsistent with other public documents

The Court primarily applied the CBSE Examination Bye-Laws 69.2 and 69.3, which permit DOB corrections based on school records or Court orders

It relied heavily on the Supreme Court precedent Jigya Yadav v. CBSE (2021), which established that CBSE must respect public documents (Birth Certificates, Aadhaar, etc.) as they carry a legal presumption of correctness under Chapter V of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (specifically Sections 76, 79, and 80)

The court noted that its discretion to order a correction is not tethered solely to school record consistency if a genuine need is demonstrated via statutory documents

The Court observed that while the Petitioner's parents likely furnished an incorrect DOB in 2014 to meet age eligibility criteria for KG, the Petitioner (now in Class XII) has successfully pursued his education for over a decade

Applying the Jigya Yadav standard, the Court found that the birth certificate and other public documents consistently support the 23.04.2010 date, and their genuineness was not disputed

The Court reasoned that an inconsistency between a Class X certificate and public records would cause "serious impediments" for future college admissions and identity verification

It held that a wrong committed by parents when the child was four years old cannot be attributed to the minor to the extent of declaring his entire education void

It directed the School and CBSE to rectify the Petitioner’s DOB to 23.04.2010 in all records and the Class X certificate within four weeks. This was made subject to the payment of an exemplary cost of ₹2,00,000 by the parents to the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) for the education of staff children, citing their "unethical means" in initially providing false information