Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Official’s plea to alter date of birth rejected

MADURAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a writ petition filed by K.S. Sripathi, Vigilance Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Personnel and Administrative Department, to alter his date of birth from April 28, 1950, to October 9, 1951, in the service records.

A Division Bench of Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice K. Suguna said it was not convinced with the reasons cited by the official for changing his date of birth and refused to interfere with the Central Administrative Tribunal’s order that the official challenged in his writ petition.

The judges said that as per Rule 16-A of the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefit) Rules, the government shall accept the date of birth mentioned in the application form or other official documents.

It shall not be altered unless it was established that a bona fide clerical mistake had been committed while “accepting” the date of birth mentioned in the documents.

This was not the case with Mr. Sripathi, who claimed that the date of birth mentioned in his school certificate was wrong.

According to the petitioner, he joined the Indian Administrative Service on July 13, 1975. Then, his date of birth was mentioned as April 28, 1950 in his school certificates. Only in 1979, during his marriage, he came to know through his horoscope that his correct date of birth was October 9, 1951. Immediately, he approached the Union Government to alter the date.

But his plea was rejected in 1985. He filed a civil suit in 1986 and obtained a decree in 1996 to effect the change. After six years, the Union Ministry of Personnel and Public Grievances filed an appeal in the High Court, which directed the Commissioner to approach the administrative tribunal.

Mr. Sripathy claimed that his father, a Central Government employee, was frequently transferred, so his maternal grandfather, who admitted him in school, furnished a wrong date of birth.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Chart the right course
Now, you can buy a silk sari the easy way
Folk arts to be taught in colleges
Lawyers’ boycott puts judicial officers in a spot
Empowering inmates with education
State CII to work together for filling ‘skill gaps’
Official’s plea to alter date of birth rejected
Cash and jewels stolen
Two boys rescued
Traffic regulation
City police limits to be extended
Results published
Water level
Delete tough portions in tenth standard syllabus: teachers
Applications invited for vacant seats
Madurai today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu