The Hindu : Govt. staff changing date of birth deprecated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2003

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Govt. staff changing date of birth deprecated

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI July 29. The Supreme Court has deprecated the trend of public servants filing suits on the eve of their retirement seeking change in their date of birth questioning the correctness of entries made earlier in the service books. A Bench, comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat, said by this process, in many cases, even if ultimately their applications were dismissed, by virtue of interim orders, they continued in service for months after the date of superannuation. The Bench, therefore, cautioned tribunals and courts and said that an application for correction of the date of birth should not be dealt with by them keeping in view only the public servant concerned.

It was of the view that any direction for correction of the date of birth had a chain reaction, inasmuch as others waiting for years below for their promotions were affected in this process.

"Some are likely to suffer irreparable injury... cases are not unknown when a person accepts appointment keeping in view the date of retirement of his immediate senior. This is certainly an important and relevant aspect which cannot be lost sight of by the court while examining the grievance of a public servant seeking correction of his date of birth," the Bench said.

In this case, Gulaichi, a government servant from Uttar Pradesh, sought to change her date of birth from July 31, 1929 to July 31, 1939.

Though the lower court dismissed her suit, on appeal, the additional district judge decreed it in her favour and the Allahabad High Court declined to interfere in the appeal.The Bench set aside the High Court order and directed that her date of birth should be taken as July 31, 1929 for all purposes.

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