- (1.) The case has a chequered history. The respondent - Anup Kumar Panda was appointed as a Junior Operator by the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (in short, "IOCL") by virtue of the fact that the land belonging to his family had been acquired and in terms of the policy, he was entitled to obtain the employment. However, he applied on 21.06.1995 in the capacity of "land loser". He mentioned his Date of Birth as 23.04.1975 and submitted Provisional Certificate of Date of Birth indicating the said date. However, the certificate issued by the Board of Secondary Education on 31.08.1995 reflected his Date of Birth to be 23.04.1979 instead of 23.04.1975.
(2.) However, by virtue of the application and the Provisional Certificate which was filed, the respondent obtained the employment and joined the services in the capacity of Junior Operator on 26.05.1996. Later on, after approximately 10 years, on 31.10.2005, a complaint was lodged indicating that the Date of Birth of the respondent was recorded in the certificate of Board of Secondary Education as 23.04.1979. Thus, by playing the fraud, the respondent submitted a Provisional Certificate indicating the Date of Birth as 23.04.1975 instead of 23.04.1979 and obtained the employment. Ultimately, departmental proceedings were commenced against the delinquent employee and the representation filed by the respondent to the Board of Secondary Education for correction of the Date of Birth was also rejected on 12.01.2007.
(3.) Thereafter, the respondent filed a Writ Petition, being W.P.(C) No. 2161 of 2007 for correction of the Date of Birth and seeking quashing of the Charge Sheet dated 23.08.2006. The same was dismissed on merits. Notwithstanding, the dismissal of the case on merits for the purpose of declaration of Date of Birth to be 23.04.1975, a Misc. Application, being Misc. Case No. 8469 of 2009 was moved before the High Court, which was allowed vide order dated 24.07.2009 and the delinquent employee was permitted to avail the remedy of filing of the suit for declaration of Date of Birth to be 23.04.1975.;