Correction Of Date Of Birth In Service Records Cannot Be Claimed As A Matter Of Right: Telangana HC

The Telangana High Court reiterated that the correction of date of birth in service records cannot be claimed as a matter of right.

The Court noted that the alteration of date of birth based on any judgment, decree or order of a Civil Court is not permitted under Public Employment (Recording and Alteration of Date of Birth) Rules, 1984.

The Court was deciding a writ petition filed by a person whose case was rejected by the Administrative Committee.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti observed, “This Court is of the opinion that the application for change of date of birth made by the petitioner cannot be considered. Rules, 1984 do not permit for alteration of the date of birth entered in the service records. The entries made by the employee are final and binding and the employee is estopped from disputing the correctness of the date of birth. Rules do not permit alteration of date of birth on the basis of any judgement, decree or order of a Civil Court and no indulgence can be shown.”

Senior Advocate Surender Rao appeared for the petitioner while Standing Counsel V. Uma Devi and Senior Advocate K. Vivek Reddy i.e., Amicus Curiae appeared for the respondent.

Facts of the Case -

The petitioner prayed for the declaration of his date of birth (DOB) as March 29, 1953 instead of July 1, 1949. He had applied for the post of District Munsif in 1983 and in the application, he mentioned his DOB as the latter one. He was selected for the said post and hence, he joined service in 1985. An application/representation was made to the High Court through the District Judge, stating that prior to entry into services, he filed a suit before the District Munsif for alteration of DOB as March 29, 1953, instead of July 7, 1940 and the Court decreed the suit in his favour. At the time of opening the Service Register, his DOB was entered as March 29, 1953 and the State Government issued order directing to make necessary corrections in Higher Secondary Leaving Certificate (HSLC) Register.

The change in DOB was carried out, and in the application/representation, he requested to record his DOB in all records as March 29, 1953 one. The matter was placed before the Administrative Committee of the Judges and it rejected his representation. Challenging this, a writ petition was filed and the High Court allowed the same. The matter was carried in appeal to Supreme Court, and it directed that the High Court on the administrative side shall determine the DOB. The Administrative Committee requested one Judge to look into it and submit a report. The Judge submitted the same holding that the petitioner was born on July 7, 1949. The Committee accepted the report and the application was rejected, and hence the petitioner was before the High Court.

The High Court in the above regard noted, “Disputes with regard to change of date of birth in service record have been considered by various High Courts and the Hon’ble Apex Court. It is settled law that “correction of date of birth cannot be claimed as a matter of right.”

The Court said that entertaining the claim for correction of date of birth would completely frustrate the objective behind the Rules, 1984 and that the petitioner is unable to demonstrate either in law or on facts about the claim for alteration of DOB.

“In view of the consistent legal position that the onus is on the applicant to prove about the wrong recording of the date of birth in the service records, the claim for the alteration cannot be entertained. … The petitioner did not make any attempt to get the date of birth corrected in his school records. Upon correction of date of birth in the school records, petitioner could have got the same corrected in the HSSLC as well. However, even this was not done”, it further noted.

The Court, therefore, concluded that both in school/college records as well as in the HSSLC, petitioner’s DOB continues to be reflected as March 29, 1953 and hence, permitting him to correct his DOB in service record would result in incongruous situation where there would be different dates recorded in his school records/HSSLC and service records, which is impermissible.

Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the writ petition.

Cause Title- Sanyasi Rao v. The High Court of Andhra Pradesh

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