High Court
Case Details
WP(C) 6330/2012 BEFORE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE B.K. SHARMA Heard Mr. S.B. Prasad, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mrs. K. De vi, learned State Counsel. By means of this writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for a direction to the respondents to record his date of birth in the service book on the basis of his HSLC certificate. The petitioner has also prayed for setting aside and quashing of the Annexure-6 order dated 29.8.2012, by which, the Commissioner & Secretary to the Government of Assam in the Secretariat Administration Department has rej ected the claim of the petitioner for change of date of birth. For a ready refer ence, the impugned order dated 29.8.2012 is reproduced below: (cid:28)ORDER The petition dated 22.6.2012 submitted by Sri Chandra Dhar Kalita, Superintenden t (now Under Secretary) to correct his date of birth as per his HSLC Examination . The case of correction of date of birth of Sri Chandra Dhar Kalita has been exam ined thoroughly, It is found that Sri Kalita was appointed as Grade-IV (Peon) in the Assam Secretariat (C) who joined as such on 29.12.1972. Thereafter his Serv ice Roll was opened wherein his date of birth was recorded as on 31.10.1953 i.e. his age at the time of joining in the post of Grade-IV was 19 years 1 month 28 days. The entry so made in the Service Roll was duly authenticated by Sri Kalita by putting his thumb impression as well as his signature in the respective colu
Legal Reasoning
mns of the Service Roll. Meanwhile, Sri Kalita has submitted a copy of H.S.L.S issued by Board of Seconda ry Education, Assam wherein the age of Sri Kalita has been shown as 21 years 7 m onths on the first of March, 1977 with a request to correct his date of birth in the Service Roll as per H.S.L.C issued by Board of Secondary Education, Assam. It appears that as per H.S.L.C Certificate his date of birth is 1st August, 1955 , in that case, his age at the time of entry into Govt. service should have been 17 years 4 months 28 days which is below the minimum age prescribed for entry i
Legal Reasoning
nto Govt. service and his date of superannuation would be 31st July, 2015. On the other hand as per his age recorded in his Service Roll his date of birth is 31.10.1953 and his date of superannuation would be 31st October, 2013. From the above, it appears that if the date of birth of Sri Chandra Dhar Kalita is changed from 31.10.1953 (as recorded in his Service Book) to 1st August/1955 (H.S.L.C certificate), he would gain 1 year 9 months of more Govt. Service, but in that case he cannot be eligible for entry into Govt. service as he would not be attaining 18 years of age on 29.12.1972. Sri Chandra Dhar Kalita, Superintend ent (now Under Secretary) by changing his date of birth (from what is recorded i n his Service Book) would be getting 1 (one) 9 (nine) months of more Govt. servi ce which he would not have got if his original date of birth is maintained. On t he other hand if his HSLC Certificate is accepted, it appears that he was not el igible for entry into Govt. Service due to underage. Date of birth is not changeable according to the sweet will/need/ circumstances of the petitioner. By changing his age at later stage he wants to avail double b enefits in his service life which is not admissible. The petition is therefore rejected. Sd/-K.Goswami Commissioner & Secretary to the Govt of Assam Secretariat Administration Department. (cid:29) Admittedly when the petitioner had entered into the services of the respondents, his date of birth was recorded in the Service Roll as 31.10.1953. As submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner, the same was on the basis of the then school certificate available with the petitioner. The petitioner joined the ser vices of the respondents in the year 1972 and to be precise on 29.12.1972. There after while in service, he passed the HSLC examination held in 1977 and accordin gly the HSLC certificate was issued to him, which is dated 27.6.1977. In the sai d certificate, his age having been recorded as 21 years 7 months as on 1.3.1977, calculating on that basis, now the petitioner claims that his actual date of bi rth is 1/2.8.1955. It appears that on the basis of some correspondences made, the date of birth was also corrected in the Service Roll as 1.8.1955. The same was done by one Mr. M. Barua on 13.1.2012. Said Barua is the Under Secretary of the Department. When t he matter rested thus, the Commissioner & Secretary of the Department passed the order dated 29.8.2012 recording therein details of the service particulars of t he petitioner relating to his date of birth. As recorded in the said order, the Service Roll of the petitioner was opened recording his date of birth as 31.3.19 53. As per the said date of birth, the age of the petitioner at the time of ente ring into the services of the respondents was 19 years 1 month 28 days. The entr y so made in the Service Roll was duly authenticated by the petitioner by puttin g his thumb impression as well as his signature in the respective columns of the Service Roll. After 5 years of entering the service, the petitioner having passed the HSLC exa mination, he claims that his date of birth recorded in the Service Book should b e corrected on the basis of the age recorded in the HSLC certificate. As per the said calculation, the date of birth of the petitioner is 1.8.1955. As recorded in the impugned order, in that case the petitioner would have been underaged for Government job being only 17 years 4 months 28 days. Naturally, joining of service is preceded by application, process of selection e tc. and if those steps are taken into account, the petitioner was even much youn ger disentitling him to apply for any Government job. If the date of birth of th e petitioner is allowed to be change at this stage, he would be gaining another 1 year 9 months of Government service, which cannot be allowed. As regards the s ubmission that the Under Secretary to the Government of Assam in the Department having already altered the date of birth, same will be binding, suffice is to sa y, such alteration was not as per the provisions of SR 8 C. As per the said prov ision, the Commissioner and Head of the Department only is the authority for alt eration of recorded date of birth, that too upon deriving satisfaction after enq uiry. As per the said provision, no change of date of birth is normally permissi ble within three years preceding the date of retirement. Mrs. Devi, learned State Counsel, GMC has also placed reliance on the decision o f the Court reported in 2004 (3) GLT 373 (Jafaruddin Ahmed Vs. State of Assam) i n support of the plea of the respondents that date of birth once declared by the petitioner while entering into the service cannot be altered on the basis of an
Decision
y subsequent document. The petitioner having been offered the job on the basis of the declaration made by him including the declaration relating to his date of birth, same cannot be a llowed to be altered at a later stage on the basis of another date of birth reco rded in the HSLC certificate. In view of the above, I do not find any merit in the writ petition and according ly, it is dismissed.