BALDEV KUMAR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that respondents be directed to correct her date of birth as 22.5.1939 instead of 22.5.1933 in her service record on the basis of her corrected matriculation certificate issued by the Punjab University.

(2.) The petitioner has averred that she was born on 22.5.1939 at Layalpur now in Pakistan. In 1946 her parents shifted to Ghaziabad and then in May, 1951 to Ludhiana. In the school registers, the petitioner's date of birth was recorded as 22.5.1939. She joined Government Girls High School, Civil Lines, Ludhiana on 19.5.1952. She also studied in Arya Girls High School, Amritsar wherein also her recorded date of birth is 22.5.1939. She appeared in the matriculation examination held by the Punjab University in the year 1957 under Roll No. 13642. She failed therein but in the record of the University her date of birth is 22.5.1939 which is also mentioned in the gazette of the Punjab University Matriculation Examination, 1957 (Annexure P/1).

(3.) The petitioner re-appeared in the matriculation examination held in the year 1958. Her date of birth was inadvertently and wrongly recorded as 22.5.1933 (Annexure P/2). It appears that this was a typographical mistake in the Punjab University records. She submitted an application to the Registrar, Punjab University for correction of her date of birth. She joined the Punjab Government service as Primary School Teacher on 4.8.1961 at Pehowa. At the time of her entry in the service, her date of birth in the official record was recorded as 22.5.1933 as per the matriculation certificate, Annexure P/2. She made a representation to the Government to correct her date of birth but it ended in fiasco. On re-organisation, the petitioner was allocated to the State of Punjab and she was posted at Government Middle School, Lalru in District Patiala in the year 1968. She was posted as J.B.T.-cum-Clerk in the office of Block Primary Education Officer, Phillaur. She represented to the Department as well as to the Punjab University to correct her date of birth entry but her prayer was not acceded. In the year 1987, the petitioner received respondents' reply dated 1.7.1987 Annexure P/3 that correction in the official record with regard to her date of birth could not be made in view of the provisions of Rule 2.5 Note 3 of Annexure 2 in the Punjab Civil Services Rules Vol. 1, Part 1. She again approached the Punjab University to correct her date of birth. She obtained the school leaving certificate from the Headmasters, Head Mistresses of the schools where she studied from Class I to matriculation. She also pointed out that in the Punjab University Matriculation Examination Gazette, 1957 her date of birth was correctly recorded. The Punjab University accepted her application and corrected her date of birth as 22.5.1939. The Punjab University also issued duplicate matriculation certificate, Annexure P/4, showing her date of birth as 22.5.1939.