RADHAKRISHNAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against judgment of learned single Judge in O.P. 7202 of 1989. The factual backdrop leading to the filing of the Original Petition and the Writ Appeal are essentially as follows.

(2.) APPELLANT , an employee of the Government of Kerala, claims that he was born on 12-4-1950 and not on 15-1-1948 as recorded in his service book. His prayer in the Original Petition was for a direction to the Government of Kerala to correct his date of birth in the service records. The foundation of appellant's claim for change of date of birth is the finding of the Commissioner for Government Examinations, Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram made on the basis of his application. The Commissioner relied on the certificate of birth issued by the Executive Officer and the Registrar of Births and Deaths, Karima Panchayat. The said certificate was issued on 20-4-1950, hardly eight days after the supposed date of birth. The Government of Kerala suspected the validity of the said certificate and rejected the claim. Learned single Judge observed that it was unlikely that name of the child would be found in the certificate of birth issued eight days after the birth. It was further observed that it was possible on the part of the petitioner to adduce other evidence like that of the mother's evidence and the date of birth of other brothers and sisters. That was not done. Since the Government suspected the authenticity of the certificate of birth, petitioner's claim was not entertained with a finding that it was a question of fact decided by the Government on available evidence. Even if another view was possible, it was not permissible to interfere with the conclusions in the writ jurisdiction.

(3.) WHAT is the exact date of birth of a person is a question of fact. In the matter of determination of the date of birth, the authority has to take note of several factors.