Chennai: Madras high court has dismissed a plea from a petitioner to alter date of birth mentioned in class 10 and plus-2 school certificates. The petitioner approached the court stating that her parents gave wrong date of birth during admission into first standard.
In the writ petition, S. Indhumathi submitted that she was born on July 17, 1997 in Madurai. However, she claimed that date of birth in certificates in X and XII standards had mentioned as May 17, 1997, instead of July 17. The record with the Corporation of Madurai has the original date of birth.
She made a representation to the school education department to modify her date of birth in her school certificates on April 20. As there was no response, she filed the petition before the court.
The counsel for the department said that such correction cannot be done as per the provisions of Tamil Nadu Secondary Education Certificate Rules. The petitioner might have given an incorrect date of birth to secure admission in first standard.
Justice S Vaidyanathan said “If the date of birth is altered then the entire qualifications possessed by the petitioner would become invalid as she would not have had the required age eligibility to join class I with the altered date of birth. The court cannot even decide the issue based on sympathy, as it will give a premium for everyone to knock at the doors of the court to alter date of birth.”
He said, “If the actual date of birth as claimed by the petitioner is taken into account, then the entire qualification obtained by the petitioner will have to go, as she could not have been admitted in Class I during that point of time based on the original date of birth.”
