N.K. NARAYAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) - The petitioner seeks to quash Exts. P-3 and P-7 orders of the Government by which his application for correction of his date of birth was rejected. The petitioner at the time when he filed this writ petition was an Assistant Excise Commissioner at Kozhikode. Since the filing of this writ petition, as the interim stay obtained by the petitioner was vacated by the final orders passed on 28th July, 1972 on C. M. P. No. 9644 of 1972, the petitioner has retired from service. It was recorded in the final order on the said C. M. P. that the learned Government Pleader appearing on behalf of the respondents had submitted that in case the writ petition is decided in the petitioner's favour and this Court holds that the petitioner is entitled to be retained in service beyond 25th July, 1972, the Government would forthwith take necessary action to reinstate the petitioner in service with the benefit of full salary, allowances and continuity of service within a period not exceeding one week from the date of judgment.

(2.) The petitioner entered service as a clerk in the Travancore State on 30-1-1119 M. E. (some time in 1944). He served in the Travancore-Cochin State and later in the Kerala State, and he became an Assistant Commissioner of Excise on 24-6-1970. His date of birth as given in the service register is 11-12-1092 M. E., corresponding to 26-7-1917, which should place his date of retirement as 26-7-1972. According to the petitioner this date of birth was a mistake, and his correct date of birth is what is entered in the primary school register, viz., 2-6-1095 M. E. When the petitioner obtained Transfer Certificate from the primary school for the purpose of joining the High School, according to him, the date of birth of a pupil lower down in the rolls was mistakenly noted in his Transfer Certificate, and this mistake was copied into the High School Register and thence into the Service Register.

(3.) Ext. P-15 G. O. dated 17th Dec. 1960, stated in supersession of the previous orders, that no application for correction of dates of birth will thereafter be allowed, of the entries in regard to age in the service books, or to the school registers, or in school certificates, unless it is a correction of a clerical error. By Ext. P-16 G. O. dated 23rd Sept. 1961, a verbal correction was made in Ext. P-15 G. O. Ext. P-17 G. O. dated 27th June, 1962, ordered that correction of date of birth in service books in respect of Government servants who entered service in the former Travancore Cochin State before 1st Aug., 1950 (petitioner belongs to this category) will be allowed only if the correction is not to the advantage of the person concerned; and that in the case of all others, applications for correction will be considered by the Government on the merits of each case. Ext. P-18 G. O. dated 27th March, 1965, is by way of amplification of Ext. P-17 G. O., and laid down what documents the Government would consider as satisfactory proof of the date of birth. Finally came Ext. P,19 G. O. dated 22nd Jan., 1972. It referred to Exts. P-17 and P-18 G. Os. and noted that it was seen that in certain cases applications for correction of date of birth are made by Government servants on the eve of their retirement. It then proceeded to state: