BHAIJIBHAI KARSHANBHAI TADVI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner by way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India initially made following prayers at paragraph 20.

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner entered service of respondent no. 4 as Class IV in the year 1978. At the time of joining the service, he produced his school leaving certificate showing his date of birth as 1st July 1957, however, due to mistake of the concerned clerk in recording the correct date of birth of the petitioner, wrong date of birth as 18th October 1952 was recorded in his service book. The petitioner came to know about such wrong recording of his birth date in the year 1996 and therefore, he immediately approached the respondent by representation, but unfortunately the respondent no. 4 informed the petitioner by a communication dated 24th January 1997 that since the entry was made in the service book on the basis of verification of the originals, no correction could be made in the birth date of the petitioner. However, the petitioner was asked to produce original school leaving certificate, which the petitioner produced on 28th January 1997. After the petitioner produced school leaving certificate the respondents made inquiry with the school authorities as well as the Talati of the village. On the basis of the inquiry the respondents found that the correct birth date was 1st July 1957 as mentioned in the school leaving certificate which was attached with the service book of the petitioner. The petitioner further averred in the petition that his correct date of birth of 1st July 1957 is also there in other records like PAN card, the identity card issued by the respondents etc. On 2nd February 2012, the respondent no. 4 asked the petitioner to submit certain documents for preparation of his pension papers and by the said letter the petitioner was informed that he would be retired from service on 31st October 2012. The petitioner, therefore by another representation dated 1st March 2012 requested the respondent no. 4 to consider his case for the purpose of correction of birth date in the service book, however, since no favourable reply was received by the petitioner, the petitioner approached the District Collector with an application on 9th March 2012 but his application was rejected. The respondent no. 4 then by letter dated 28th March 2012 asked for further details from the petitioner, which the petitioner supplied to the Deputy Executive Engineer on 11th May 2012 who in turn forwarded to respondent no. 4 on 14th May 2012. It is further case of the petitioner that though the respondent no.4 got confirmed that the mistake was committed by the concerned clerk in recording the correct date of birth of the petitioner still however, the case of the petitioner was rejected.

(3.) The respondent no. 4 has filed affidavit-in-reply dated 21st December 2012. It is stated in the affidavit that the correct date of birth of the petitioner as per the school leaving certificate is 1st July 1957, however, the concerned clerk made entry in the service book showing his date of birth as 18th October 1952. It is further stated in the reply that the petitioner has filed an application for correction in the birth date on 18th May 1996 which was not within the time limit prescribed for making such application.