STATE OF M P Vs. PREMLAL SHRIVAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 17th January, 2002 passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur Bench, in Writ Petition No. 2561 of 2001. By the impugned judgment, the High Court has allowed the writ petition preferred by the Respondent, directing the Appellants to correct the service record of the Respondent, incorporating his date of birth as 30th June, 1945 in place of 1st June, 1942, within a period of one month from the date of the impugned order.

(2.) To appreciate the controversy involved, a brief reference to the facts, as stated in the impugned judgment, would suffice. These are: The Respondent was appointed to the post of a Police Constable in the year 1965. In the service book, prepared at the time of his entering the service, his date of birth was recorded as 1st June, 1942. His fathers name was recorded as Gayadin. This position continued till 1990, when he made a representation to the Appellants seeking correction of his fathers name and date of birth in the service record. The plea of the respondent was that at the time of joining the service, his date of birth as also the name of his father was wrongly recorded on the basis of the information furnished by his maternal grandfather, who was accompanying him at that point of time as he was living with him after the death of his father. According to the Respondent, he came to know about the mistake when he was promoted as Head Constable. In support of his application, the Respondent submitted his class IV marksheet, transfer certificate of class VIII and a certificate from a local MLA.

(3.) By order dated 8th March 1995, the representation came to be rejected, inter-alia, on the ground that the service record of the Respondent was prepared on the instructions of his maternal grandfather, accompanying the Respondent at the time of enrolment, the same carries his finger and thumb impressions and was duly attested by the then Superintendent of Police on 7th September, 1976. Moreover, at the time of enrolment, the Respondent had been subjected to a medical examination on 27th September 1965, when the Examining Medical Authority had certified his age to be 23 years.