Orissa High Court
Sanjukta Behera vs State Of Odisha And Others on 12 December, 2023
Bench: B.R. Sarangi, Murahari Sri Raman
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.A. No. 2684 of 2023
Sanjukta Behera ..... Appellant
Mr. C.R. Pattnaik, Adv.
Vs.
State of Odisha and others ..... Respondents
Mr. R.N. Mishra, AGA
Mr. P.K. Satapathy, Adv.
CORAM:
ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE DR. B.R. SARANGI
MR. JUSTICE MURAHARI SRI RAMAN
ORDER
12.12.2023
Order No. This matter is taken up by hybrid mode.
03.
2. Heard Mr. C.R. Pattnaik, learned counsel for the appellant;
Mr. R.N. Mishra, learned Addl. Government Advocate appearing
for the State-respondents; and Mr. P.K. Satapathy, learned
counsel appearing for respondent no.5.
3. The appellant has filed this writ appeal challenging the
order dated 12.09.2023 passed in W.P.(C) No. 22334 of 2023, by
which the learned Single Judge declined to interfere with the
dispute relating to the date of birth of the appellant at the fag end
of her career, relying upon the judgment of the apex Court in the
case of Life Insurance Corporation of India v. R. Basavaaraju,
(2016) 15 SCC 781.
4. Mr. C.R. Pattnaik, learned counsel for the appellant
contended that the appellant was selected as an Asha Karmi in
the year 2005 and posted at Kaluria under the Medical Officer,
CHC, Sriramchandrapur, Gondia Block, Dhenkanal. While
entering into service, she had submitted all relevant documents,
but on the basis of wrong entry of the date of birth in the Aadhar
Card her date of birth was mentioned as "22.07.1960" instead of
"05.01.1963" in the service record, as a result of which, she has
been deprived of to continue in service. It is contended that
although she raised objection before the authority, the same was
not adhered to. Subsequently, the appellant obtained a duplicate
school leaving certificate from the Headmaster, Joranda Nodal
U.P. School, Mahimagadi, Dhenkanal showing her date of birth
as "05.01.1963" vide sl.no. 43/10.07.1971 and submitted the
same before the Collector, Dhenkanal and other authorities for
their information. Since no action was taken, the appellant earlier
approached this Court by filing W.P.(C) No. 18307 of 2023,
which was disposed of vide order dated 08.06.2023 directing
opposite party no.2 therein to take a decision on the grievance of
the appellant. After disposal of the writ petition, the appellant
submitted an application before the Collector, Dhenkanal along
with her birth certificate and school leaving certificate, claiming
continuity in service till the age of 62 years. When such
application has been pending, the CDMO, Dhenkanal, on the
basis of wrong entry of her date of birth in the Aadhar Card as
"22.07.1960" instead of "05.01.1963", vide order dated
07.07.2023, turned down her claim on the ground that as per her
Aadhar Card, her date of birth was recorded as 22.07.1960. It is
contended that when the date of birth of the appellant as per the
school leaving certificate is "05.01.1963", on the basis of the
wrong entry made in the Aadhar card, the authority could not
have directed for retirement of the petitioner from service
treating her date of birth as "22.07.1960".
5. Mr. R.N. Mishra, learned Addl. Government Advocate
appearing for the State-respondents contended that though the
appellant produced the school leaving certificate from the
Headmaster, Joranda Nodal U.P. School, Mahimagadi,
Dhenkanal showing her date of birth as "05.01.1963", the same
was not accepted by the CDMO, because at the time of entry into
service she herself mentioned her date of birth as "22.07.1960"
and, as such, she had also submitted a signed copy of Aadhar
card, which had been uploaded in the ASHA database. Thereby,
respondent no.3 has not committed any error apparent on the face
of record and, as such, no fault can be found with the learned
Single Judge in upholding the action taken by the respondent
no.3.
6. Mr. P.K. Satapathy, learned counsel appearing for
respondent no.5 contended that since the date of birth in the
service book of the appellant has been mentioned as
"22.07.1960", at the fag end of her career, after serving long
time, the date of birth cannot be changed.
7. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and after
going through the records, this Court finds that as per the
duplicate copy of the school leaving certificate, the date of birth
of the appellant is "05.01.1963". Therefore, she claimed that her
date of birth should be taken into consideration as "05.01.1963"
instead of "22.07.1960". But fact remains, the appellant herself
had entered her date of birth as "22.07.1960" in the application.
Even though in the school leaving certificate, the date of birth of
the appellant has been mentioned as "05.01.1963", but the same
has been mentioned in her service record as "22.07.1960" on the
basis of her own disclosure and Aadhar card, therefore, at the fag
end of her career, question of change of date of birth of the
appellant does not arise. As such, if the appellant wanted to
correct her date of birth as "05.01.1963" instead of "22.07.1960",
she should have approached the appropriate forum in accordance
with law, instead of approaching this Court. Therefore, the
learned Single Judge has rightly declined to interfere with the
same and observed that the mistake committed by the appellant
in the documents cannot be rectified at the fag end of her career,
in view of the judgment of the apex Court in the case of Life
Insurance Corporation of India v. R. Basavaaraju, (2016) 15
SCC 781.
8. In the above view of the matter, this Court does not find
any error apparent on the face of the order dated 12.09.2023
passed in W.P.(C) No. 22334 of 2023 so as to warrant
interference with the same.
9. Accordingly, the writ appeal merits no consideration and
the same is hereby dismissed.
(DR. B.R. SARANGI)
ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE
Ashok
(M.S. RAMAN)
JUDGE
Signed by: ASHOK KUMAR JAGADEB
Location: HIGH COURT OF ORISSA
Date: 13-Dec-2023 15:18:19
