NARENDRA NATH TIWARI, J. - (1.) IN this writ application the petitioner has prayed for a direction on the respondents to accept his date of birth as 16.9.1949 which has also been mentioned in the Sirdar 'scertificate for correcting and replacing the date of birth mentioned in the service sheet by 16.9.1945.
(2.) IT has been stated that the petitioner was initially appointed on 24.6.1968 as Mazdoor, P.R. Loader and was posted at Jarandih C.C.L. The petitioner was promoted as Mining Sirdar on 8.5.1987 and was transferred to Swang Colliery, C.C.L, Kathara Area. The petitioner was then transferred to Govindpur Project in 1988 and since then he had been performing his duties as such the petitioner had given his date of birth as 16.9.1949 at the time of his initial appointment. He had also submitted the relevant document in support of the said date of birth in the year 1981. The petitioner was also sent for medical examination for determination of his date of birth by a Medical Board and the said Board had fixed his date of birth as 16.9.1949. During his service period the petitioner had appeared at the Mining Sirdar 'sExamination held on 19.2.1986 and on being successful, was given a certificate. In the Sirdar 'scertificate also his date of birth has been mentioned as 16.9.1949. It has been stated that for the first time in his pay slip of March 2004, the petitioner surprisingly found that his date of birth was wrongly mentioned as 16.9.1945 in stead of his actual date of birth as 16.9.1949. The date of birth was never mentioned earlier in the pay slip. The petitioner immediately thereafter made a representation requesting the department to correct his date of birth in accordance with the School Leaving Certificate and Sirdar 'scertificate coupled with the medical report wherein his date of birth is recorded as 16.9.1949. On such representation, an Age Assessing Committee should have been constituted for correcting the said error in the date of birth, but in spite of several requests and representations the petitioner 'sdate of birth was not corrected. It is relevant to mentioned here that during the pendency of this writ application the petitioner has been superannuated on 30.9.2005 on the basis of the date of birth recorded (as 16.9.49) in the petitioner 'sservice records.
(3.) A counter affidavit has been filed by the respondents refuting the petitioner 'sallegation and stating, inter alia, that the petitioner has unnecessarily raised the dispute of age at the fag end of his service after having accepted the entries recorded in the Company 'srecords as well as the service records of the petitioner. It has been stated that the petitioner had made prayer for alteration of the date of birth recorded in the service book also at the earlier stage, but his said prayer was rejected by order dated 25/26.3.79 (Annexure -D). The petitioner accepted the said order and no challenge was made for more than two decades and after lapse of about 25 years when the petitioner was at the verge of retirement, he had raised the said issue which was settled long ago. It has been stated that the petitioner 'sdate of birth is recorded as 16.9.1945 at the very inception as per the Medical Report Sl. No. 78 dated 16.9.1970 duly certified by the then Medical Officer, Jarangdih Colliery. The record also contains thumb impression of the petitioner acknowledging the acceptance of the said entry of his date of birth. There was never any alteration/interpolation in the petitioner 'sdate of birth. The said date has been recorded in Form B Register which is a statutory record under the Mines Act. The petitioner has himself made declaration in the C.M.P.F record on 16.9.1970 wherein he has also mentioned his date of birth as 16.9.1945. The said declaration has also been authenticated by the then Medical Officer, Jarangdih Colliery and the petitioner had also put his thumb impression. It has been stated that the petitioner has never furnished School Leaving Certificate earlier at any stage of time, inasmuch as, the said certificate cannot be relied upon in terms of the service rules of the Company which recognize only Matriculation Certificate or Higher Secondary Certificate or the Board 'sMiddle Certificate in support of the date of birth of an employee. It has been stated that so far as the date of birth mentioned in the Medical Board Certificate dated 19.3.1981 (Annexure -2) is concerned, the same was mentioned after entry of the date of birth in the petitioner 'sservice records and the same does not tally with the petitioner 'sdate of birth recorded in the statutory service record i.e. Register B Form and C.M.P.F record.;