A child should not be made to pay for a decision taken by his parents when he was too young to understand its consequences, the Delhi High Court has ruled while directing the correction of a student’s date of birth in school and board records.
Justice Vikas Mahajan ordered St. Columba’s School and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to amend the student’s date of birth in their records and ensure that the correction is reflected in his Class X certificate. The CBSE was also directed to record the corrected date for his Class XII board examinations.
The Court, however, imposed exemplary costs of ₹2 lakh on the student’s parents after concluding that they appeared to have deliberately submitted incorrect information and a supporting document to secure his admission.
The student had entered kindergarten in April 2014. At the time, his parents declared his date of birth as March 23, 2010, although official records later relied upon by him showed April 23, 2010 as his actual date of birth.
The distinction was significant. The school’s admission criteria covered children born between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010. Had his actual date of birth been disclosed, he would not have qualified for admission.
Years later, the student sought correction of the date in the school and CBSE records, producing documents including a 2011 birth certificate, Aadhaar card, passport and hospital records.
The school opposed the request, arguing that changing the date could affect the validity of his admission. The CBSE maintained that its records reflected the information supplied by the school. The respondents also relied on another birth certificate mentioning March 23 as the date of birth.
The High Court found that the parents had indeed furnished incorrect information and a supporting birth certificate at the time of admission. But it refused to place the consequences of that conduct on the child.
The Court noted that the student was only around four years old when he entered the school and had since spent nearly a decade there. He had already completed Classes X and XI and was studying in Class XII.
At this stage, the Court held, the student’s kindergarten admission could not simply be declared invalid because his parents had represented him as being one month younger.
“A wrong committed by the parents of the petitioner cannot be attributed to the petitioner,” the Court observed, noting that the student was a minor when the admission took place.
The Court also pointed to the practical difficulties that conflicting dates of birth could create for the student in the future, particularly when applying for higher education in India or abroad. Such discrepancies, it said, could also raise questions about his identity.
Accordingly, the school and CBSE were given four weeks to correct the records.
The parents, however, were not spared. The Court said they could not be permitted to escape consequences after apparently resorting to unethical means to secure admission for their child.
The ₹2 lakh costs must be deposited with the Delhi High Court Bar Association within two weeks. The amount will be used exclusively for the education or higher education of children of its staff.
