2 mothers, 1 certificate: Why high court questioned stepmother’s name in CBSE records

Justice Kuldeep Tiwari directed the father to approach CBSE through the prescribed procedure.

Battle over two mothers 

• The petitioner was married to a woman, with whom he had a daughter on November 7, 2008.
• The child’s biological mother passed away on May 14, 2009.
•  In April 2010, the petitioner married another woman. In the school records as well as CBSE records, the name of the stepmother had been recorded as the mother of the minor child instead of the biological mother. 
• The petitioner sought correction of the mother’s name in the school and the board records by restoring the name of the biological mother. 

‘Stepmother is raising child’

• Advocate Randhir Singh Thind, on behalf of the stepmother, opposed the petitioner’s case, stating that the minor daughter was being brought up by the stepmother and therefore, her name had been correctly recorded as the mother of the child.
• He contended that her name was recorded as the mother in the school records with the consent of the petitioner, which had been subsequently reflected in the CBSE records. 
• It was argued that the current petition was an offshoot of a matrimonial dispute between the petitioner and his client (stepmother).

Stepmother’s name change ‘premature’

The Punjab and Haryana High Court noted that the counsel representing the stepmother’s case had failed to satisfy the court in explaining how the stepmother’s name could be substituted in place of the biological mother in the minor child’s school and CBSE records. 

The court noted that the petitioner had not approached the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) through a prescribed procedure by submitting a requisite application with supporting documents, and therefore, the board did not consider the request.

In view of the aforesaid stand of the examination board, the court opined that the instant writ petition was premature and not maintainable. 

The court directed the petitioner to first approach CBSE through the prescribed procedure by submitting the required documents, and it further directed that after the application was filed, the competent authority should consider the case.

CBSE gets 3 weeks to decide on ‘golden chance’ for Class 10 students

In another case recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the CBSE  to consider and decide a petition filed by Class 10 students seeking a “golden chance” to appear for a compartment examination despite missing the deadline, alleging that a lapse on the part of their school affected their exams.

Justice Kuldeep Tiwari was hearing a plea filed on behalf of 25 Class 1o students seeking inclusion of their names in the list of candidates to appear in the compartment examinations, along with the All India Secondary School Class 12 compartment examinations scheduled to be held in July.

“In view of the above, the instant petition, at this stage, is disposed of, with a direction upon the respondents no.3 to 6-CBSE to decide the representations (Annexures P-6 and P-8) of the petitioners, within a period of three weeks from the date of this order. 6. Learned counsel for respondents no.3 to 6-CBSE is directed to inform the competent authority of the CBSE about the aforesaid direction of this Court,” the May 29 order noted.