- (1.) AN advertisement was issued by the Head Office, Provincial Armed Constabulary (hereinafter referred to as 'PAC'), Lucknow on 14.11.1991, inviting applications for appointment to the post of constable in PAC. The eligibility condition prescribed in the advertisement was that the applicants' age on 1.1.1992 be not below 18 years and above 20 years. Thus, the persons born between 2.1.1972 and 1.1.1974 alone could apply and be considered for the post. Based the advertisement of the Head Office, the Commandant 47 Battalion PAC, Naini, Allahabad, invited applications on 18.11.1991 for appointing constables. The petitioner applied for the post claiming his date of birth as 24.9.1972 and was recruited on 1.4.1992.
(2.) SUBSEQUENTLY , a complaint appears to have been made to the department stating that the actual date of birth of the petitioner as per the high school certificate duly issued by Regional Secretary, Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad, Regional Office Varanasi, was 24.9.1971. The Regional Secretary vide his letter dated 8.4.2002 certified that petitioner's date of birth as per the record was 24.9.1971. Since according to the advertisement, only those persons who were born between 2.1.1972 to 1.1.1974 could be applied, as such, petitioner was not eligible for appointment. The complaint, thus, alleged that the petitioner misrepresented his date of birth as 24.9.1972 on the strength of forged documents and secured appointment contrary to the terms of the advertisement itself. The Assistant Commandant examined the matter and submitted an inquiry report on 4.9.2002, wherein it was held that petitioner had committed an offence by manipulating his date of birth as 24.9.1972 in place of 24.9.1971, to the Commandant.
(3.) BASED upon the aforesaid inquiry report, a charge sheet was issued to the petitioner, alleging that since the high school certificate contained his date of birth as 24.9.1971, as such, he had secured appointment on the strength of misrepresentation and fraud. The charge sheet dated 19.9.2002 is on record as Annexure -2 to the writ petition. The petitioner submitted a reply to the charge sheet saying that his working, as a constable, has been to the complete satisfaction of the respondent authorities. He stated that at the time when he filled up his high school form, he informed to the school authorities about his date of birth as 24.9.1972 and this date of birth was mentioned in the form also, but his date of birth was wrongly mentioned as 24.9.1971 in the form due to mistake on part of the school authorities. Petitioner submits that he filed an objection before the Principal of the institution for correcting his date of birth and the original records mentioning date of birth as 24.9.1971 were got received by the school authorities. Later on, the school authorities provided corrected high school certificate to the petitioner clearly mentioning his date of birth as 24.9.1972, and believing it to be true, he applied for appointment and was selected. Petitioner also annexed copy of the family register to substantiate his date of birth as 24.9.1972. It was also claimed that Sri Chandra Shekhar Mishra, who was stated to have lodged the complaint had disowned the complaint itself.;