SATYABAN BEHERA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Plaintiff is the appellant against a confirming judgment in a suit for declaration that his date of birth is 13.03.1958 and mandatory injunction.

(2.) The case of the plaintiff is that he was born on 13.03.1958. His parents got him admitted in U.P. School, Balbaspur (now U.G.M.E. School, Balbaspur) in Class-I. At the time of admission, his date of birth was correctly recorded as 13.03.1958 in the school admission register. Thereafter, he prosecuted his study in the Talab High School. After completion of H.S.C. Examination, he received the certificate from the Board of Secondary Education, Orissa in the year 1976. He found that his date of birth has been wrongly entered in the certificate as 13.03.1957 in place of 13.03.1958. Immediately, he wrote a letter on 10.05.1976 to the Secondary, Board of Secondary Education, Orissa, Cuttack for correction of the date of birth. After his graduation, he joined as a junior assistant in the office of the Chief Engineer, Irrigation, Orissa, Bhubaneswar on 26.06.1980. On 12.05.1985, he wrote a letter to the Chief Engineer, Irrigation, Orissa, Bhubaneswar for correction of date of birth in his Service Book. But then the authorities did not correct his date of birth. He had also sent another letter on 12.05.1988 to the Engineer-in-Chief, Water Resources, Orissa, Bhubaneswar. Thereafter, he filed W.P.(C) No.16169 of 2010 before this Court challenging the wrong entry. This Court vide order dated 12.12.2011 granted liberty to avail the remedy available under the Specific Relief Act. After issuing notice under Sec.80 C.P.C. to the defendant nos.1 and 2, he instituted the suit in the court of the learned Civil Judge (Sr. Divn.), Sambalpur seeking the aforesaid reliefs.

(3.) Though summons were issued to the defendant nos.1 and 2, but they had chosen not to contest the case and as such set exparte. The defendant nos.3, 4 and 5 entered appearance and filed their respective written statement. The specific case of the defendant no.3 is that on verification of the Tabulation Register and Certificate Register of the Board in respect of the candidates, it was found that the date of birth of the plaintiff is 13.03.1957. After 30 years of passing the H.S.C. Examination the claim of the plaintiff is not entertainable. The suit for correction of date of birth is filed after decades with ulterior motive to delay his superannuation. The defendant no.4 has reported that the date of birth of the plaintiff has been recorded in the Talab High School admission register as 13.03.1957 and not 13.03.1958. The plaintiff had produced the transfer certificate issued by Talab M.E. School bearing T.C. No.43 dated 07.07.1970 to take admission into Class-VII in Talab High School. He had prosecuted his study first in U.P. School, Balbaspur, then in Talab M.E. School, but did not disclose the date of birth recorded in the admission register of Talab M.E. School. He had suppressed the facts. He had never approached the Board authorities for correction of his date of birth. The entry in the Board certificate was based on the records produced by the High School from which the plaintiff was sponsored as a candidate for H.S.C. Examination. The plaintiff has filled up the application form for admission into the H.S.C. Examination in his own handwriting. No correction could be made at this stage. The entries made in the H.S.C. certificate of the plaintiff were based on records.