- (1.) J. C. Gupta, J. In this writ petition the petitioner has prayed for issuing a writ in the nature of mandamus commanding the op posite parties to correct the petitioner's date of birth in the petitioner character roll as 12. 1. 1931 instead of 1. 7. 1927 and for the quashing of the order dated 12. 2. 85 of the Senior Superintendent of Police, Aligarh informing the petitioner that he would retire on 1. 7. 85 after reaching the age of superannuation of 58 years on the basis of his date of birth entered in petitioner's ser vice record.
(2.) THE writ petition for the above reliefs was filed on 26. 6. 85 but since no stay was granted, the petitioner ultimately was retired from service with effect from 1. 7. 85. THE petition is now pressed only for the relict that petitioner's date of birth be cor rected as 12. 1. 1931 and he be held to be entitled to get all service benefits upto 31. 1. 1989, on which date the petitioner ac tually reached the age of superannuation. The only question that requires decision in this case is whether the age of superannuation of the petitioner was to be computed on the basis of the entry of his age recorded in service record or was the same to be counted from the date of birth men tioned in his High School Certificate. I may now give an abridged version of the factual matrix. The petitioner in the year 1948 was selected as a police constable in the U. P. Police Service and joined service on 3rd August, 1948. His service record indi cates that at that time he disclosed his age as 21 years and 1927 as his year of birth, the age was not verified by the Chief Medical Of ficer and thereafter the same was entered into his service record, which was accepted by the petitioner by affixing his thumb im pression. In due course of time the petitioner availed several promotions and reached the post of Circle Officer from which post he retired. In the month of February, 1985, while the petitioner was still in service he received a notice dated 12-2-1985 from the Senior Superintendent of Police informing him that he would retire on 1. 7. 1985 on reaching the age of superannuation of 58 years on the basis of his age recorded in his Service Book. The petitioner then for the first time submitted an application on 30. 3. 85 for the correction of his date of birth on the basis of his High School Certificate wherein his date of birth was recorded as 12-1-1931. When no action was taken by the respondents the petitioner approached this Court by filing this writ petition. The stand of the Government is that when the petitioner joined the service, it was never disclosed by him that he was High School Pass or that his date of birth was 12. 1. 1931 nor any document in support there of was produced. The entry in the Ser vice Book was made on the basis of the declaration made by the petitioner and the same continued to exist and its correctness was never doubted by the petitioner during his long tenure of service. The minimum age prescribed for the recruitment of a police constable was 18 years. Had the petitioner disclosed his date of birth as 12. 1. 31 at the time of his entry into the service, he would not have been appointed as he then as not eligible for the same on account of his not completing the minimum prescribed age of 18 years. The true copy of the High School Certificate was later on produce by the petitioner in the year 1953 only and not in 1951, as claimed by the petitioner.
(3.) IN order to answer the point arising for consideration, I may first refer to the relevant statutory provisions. IN the Sate of Uttar Pradesh specific rules have been framed regarding the determination of date of birth of a Government servant for all purposes in relation to his service including the superannuation. They are known as the U. P. Recruitment to Service (Determina tion of Date of Birth) Rules, 1974. Rule2of the said rules, as amended by the Amending Rules of 1980, reads as under. "the date of birth of a Government servant as recorded in the certificate of his having passed the High School or equivalent examination at the time of his entry into the Govt. Service or where a Govt. servant has not passed any such examina tion as aforesaid or has passed such examination after joining the service. the date of birth or the age recorded in his service book at the time of his entry into the Govt. Service shall be deemed to be his correct date of birth or age, as the case may be, for all purposes in relation to his service, including eligibility for promotional superannuation, premature retirement or retirement benefitsand no application or representation shall be enter tained for correction of such date or age in any circumstances what-so-ever. " A perusal of the above amended Rule 2 would show that this deeming provision creates a legal fiction in three contingencies. (i) where the Government Servant has passed High School or equivalent examina tion before his entering into Service, the date of birth as recorded in the certificate shall be deemed to be his correct date of birth for the purposes of calculating the age of superannuation, or (ii) where the Government Servant has not passed such examination, the date of birth or the age as recorded in his Service Book at the time of his entry into the service shall be deemed to be his correct date of birth or age, as the case may be, for all purposes in relation to his service including the superannuation, or (iii) where the Government Servant has passed the High School or equivalent examination after joining the service, the date of birth or age as recorded in his Service Book at the time of his entry into the service shall be the deeming date for calculating his age of superannuation.;