Himachal Pradesh High Court
Decided On : 15.05.2025 vs State Of Himachal Pradesh And Others on 15 May, 2025
Author: Ajay Mohan Goel
Bench: Ajay Mohan Goel
2025:HHC:14174-DB
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT
SHIMLA
CWP No. 17 of 2021
Decided on : 15.05.2025
Sh. Moti Lal.
...Petitioner
Versus
State of Himachal Pradesh and others.
...Respondents
Coram
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge
Whether approved for reporting?1 Yes
For the petitioner : Mr. Romesh Verma, Senior
Advocate, with Mr. Hitesh
Thakur, Advocate.
For the respondents : Mr. Pushpinder Jaswal,
Additional Advocate General
and Mr. Rajat Chauhan, Law
Officer, for respondents No.1 to
3.
Mr. Virbahadur Verma, Advocate,
for respondent No.4.
Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge (Oral)
By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has, inter
alia, prayed for the following relief:-
"(ii) That the respondents may kindly be directed to
correct the date of birth of the petitioner as 17.08.1969
instead of 02.06.1966 as per the Birth Certificate issued
by the Secretary, G.P. Tangnu, Tehsil Chirgaon, District
1Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
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Shimla, Annexure P-3 and also as per the entry in the
abstract of family register Annexure P-4 in the service
record of the respondents No.1 to 3 and also in the
matriculation certificate Annexure P-2."
2. The petitioner joined the service of the Education
Department, in the year 1986. His prayer is that as the date of
birth entered in the service record is not in sync with his actual
date of birth, therefore, a mandamus be issued to the
respondents to correct the date of birth of the petitioner from
02.06.1966 to 17.08.1969.
3. On a query put to the learned Senior Counsel for
the petitioner as to why the petitioner did not approach the
Authorities, within the time envisaged in the Himachal Pradesh
Financial Rules, 1971, for carrying out necessary correction in
the service record, learned Senior Counsel submitted that it
was only in the year 2018 when the petitioner approached the
Panchayat concerned to obtain his Birth Certificate that he
came to know that there was a discrepancy in the entry of the
date of birth in the service record.
4. Having heard learned Senior Counsel for the
petitioner, this Court is of the considered view that no relief, as
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is being prayed for by the petitioner, can be granted to him.
5. The petitioner joined the service of the respondents-
State in the year 1986. It is not as if the date of birth of the
petitioner was recorded in the service record at the whims of
the Officer or Official concerned. The date of birth was recorded
on the basis of the documents made available by the petitioner
himself to the Department at the time of his engagement. There
otherwise appears to be a fallacy in the contention of the
petitioner for the reason that in terms of the averments made in
the writ petition, which are sworn on affidavit by the petitioner,
he was recruited as a Teacher on self help basis on
08.08.1986. If the date of birth of the petitioner actually is
17.08.1969 then this Court fails to understand as to how he
was recruited as a Teacher on self help basis, when the
petitioner was not only minor but at the best would have been
pursuing his under Graduate studies.
6. Otherwise also, the petitioner did not approach the
Authority within the time as is envisaged in Rule 7.1 Note 1-(d)
(1) of Chapter 7 of the Himachal Pradesh Financial Rules,
1971, Vol.I, which reads as under:-
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"7.1. Every person newly appointed to a service
or a post under Government should at the time at
appointment declare the date of his birth by the Christian
era with confirmatory evidence as far as possible,
confirmatory documentary evidence such as
matriculation certificate, municipal birth certificate and so
no. If the exact date is not known an approximate date
may be given. The actual date or the assumed date
determined under note I below should be recorded in the
history of service, service book, or any other record that
may be kept in respect of the Government servant's
service under Government and once recorded, it cannot
be altered except in the case of a clerical error, without
the previous orders of Government.
...
Note 1- (d) (1) in regard to the date of birth a declaration
of age made at the time of or for the purpose of entry into
Government service, shall as against the Government
servant in question, be deemed to be conclusive unless
he applies for correction of his age as recorded within 2
years from the date of his entry into Government service
Government, however, reserves the right to make a
correction in the recorded age of the Government servant
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at any time against the interest of that Government
servant when it is satisfied that the age recorded in his
service book or in the history of services of a gazetted
Government servant is incorrect and has been incorrectly
recorded with the object that the Government servant
may derive some unfair advantage therefrom."
7. In view of the above discussion, as this Court does
not finds any merit in this petition, the same is dismissed.
Pending miscellaneous application(s), if any, also stand
disposed of accordingly.
(Ajay Mohan Goel)
Judge
May 15, 2025
(Shivank Thakur)
