SIDHESWAR DAS Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A very common issue is the subject matter of dispute in this present writ petition. The issue is regard to an attempt on the part of the employee to change his date of birth in the service record on the verge of his retirement. Though the law is well settled on this issue, an independent ground is sought to be made out, namely, by bringing the instance of the elder brother of the petitioner, who would continue to the government service even after the petitioner retires from his service. The aforesaid ground needs to be dealt with by answering the issue in hand.

(2.) For the sake of convenience, the brief fact of the writ petition may be narrated in the following manner:

(3.) It is the case of the petitioner that he had passed the HSLC examination in the year 1982 from the Dharamtul Govt. Aided High School, followed by Pre-University examination in the year 1984 and BA in 1987. He was appointed in the Assam Secretariat in the year 1982 (later on orally rectified to be 1992) and is presently working as the Under Secretary, PWD (B). The petitioner claims that his date of birth was wrongly recorded in the HSLC Admit Card, HSLC Pass Certificate as well as in the Service Book as 28.11.1963 while his actual date of birth is 28.11.1966. As per the recorded date of birth, the petitioner would retire from service on attaining the age of superannuation in November, 2023. The petitioner claims to have filed applications under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI) before the Inspector of School, Morigaon, seeking information regarding his date of birth. After long duration, the Head Master of the Dharamtul Govt. Aided High School issued a certificate 31.05.2019 that the date of birth of the petitioner is 28.11.1966.