Rajendra Paswan @ Rajendra Paswan No. I vs Bharat Coking Coal Limited and Others

Amareshwar Sahay, J.—Heard the parties.

The petitioner, who was an employee of the Bharat Coking Coal Limited, has filed this writ application for direction to the respondents to change his date of birth as 18/12/1952 as per the matriculation certificate issued by the Bihar School Examination Board, showing him to have passed the said matriculation examination in the year 1972. The petitioner states that he was initially appointed in Bagdigi colliery on 17/10/1971 and at the time of entry in the service his date of birth was recorded as 1950 and the same was mentioned in his service record, i.e. in the Form B Register. It is stated by the petitioner that he produced the Matriculation certificate before the authorities concerned in the year 1972 for correction of his date of birth from 1950 to 18/12/1952 but no action has been taken.

According to the petitioner, his date of birth mentioned in the Matriculation Certificate, i.e. 18/12/1952 should be taken for calculation his date of retirement.

As it appears from the counter affidavit filed by the respondents that the petitioner entered in service in the year 1971 and at that time his date of birth was recorded in the service record, such as Form B register as 01/07/1950. The petitioner was not a matriculate at that time when he joined the service. It is important to note that admittedly, the Form B Register, which is a statutory register, bears the signature of the petitioner.

In view of the fact that the petitioner passed the matriculation examination subsequently, i.e. after he entered in the service and, therefore, the date of birth recorded in the matriculation certificate cannot be taken to be a proof of his date of birth. If the petitioner would have passed the matriculation examination before entering in service then he might have legally claimed for recording his date of birth as per the matriculation certificate.

This Court has taken the similar view in the case of ''Daya Shankar Prasad v. The Bharat Coking Coal Limited through its Chairman-cum-Managing director, BCCL, Koyala Bhawan Dhanbad and Ors.reported in 2004 (1) JLJR 217'' wherein it has been held that if the employee passed Matriculation examination after entry in service then the Matriculation certificate cannot be said to be the conclusive proof of Date of Birth.

For the reasons stated above, the petitioner is not entitled to the relief claimed. The respondents have rightly rejected the claim of the petitioner for change of date of birth in the service record. No case at all is made out for any interference by this Court in this writ petition. Accordingly, having no merit, this writ petition is dismissed.