Requests Made By Govt Employees To Change Birthdate In Service Records Beyond Reasonable Time Should Not Be Entertained: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court recently while refusing to grant any relief to a Pune-based Police Inspector said any request from a public servant to change in date of birth in service records, beyond reasonable time, should not be permitted. A division bench of Justices Atul Chandurkar and Milind Sathaye said that in such cases, mostly government employees seek such changes only after spending 'considerable time' in service or when they near retirement. "Where a government employee seeks to change his/her date of birth in the service record after spending considerable time of service or close to his retirement, where postponement of the date of birth is asked, it is obvious that it has far reaching effect, if permitted. If a government employee seeks change of date of birth to mean that he was born on a later date, compared to the date of birth recorded in his service book, it means that on the date of his appointment he was not of a particular age and was younger than what he claimed at the time of entry in service," the judges observed in the order passed on January 22. Further, the judges explained that in a given case, this (change of birthdate) can have bearing on the issue of eligibility itself. Also, when a government employee claims that he was born on a later date, it obviously has an effect on seniority at the time of appointment. "In a given case, where a batch of employees is appointed on the same date, the seniority may change and such change in service book can adversely affect seniority of other co-employees. Also, the aspect of the concerned government having to pay him salary for longer period than what was expected at the time of entry in service, also needs serious consideration. If a government employee was younger during his tenure, he might not be considered for certain benefits, which, in a given case, might have been already availed and enjoyed," the judges underscored. These, the bench explained, are some of the situations and effects that are relevant in its opinion, when a government employee says that he was born later than the date of birth recorded in his service book. "In our opinion, such situations must be avoided and therefore requests for change in date of birth beyond reasonable time should not be permitted. In the present case, it is 5 years under the applicable rule," the bench held. The judges were seized with a plea filed by one Dnyaneshwar Katkar, who joined the force initially as a police sub-inspector on September 15, 1993. After training, his appointment was made regular and in his service book, his date of birth was mentioned as June 1, 1966, which was as per his school leaving certificate. On May 23, 1995, Katkar's father filed an affidavit before the authorities stating that his real birthdate was December 24, 1968 and not June 1, 1966. The petitioner therefore, made an application to the concerned Additional Commissioner of Police on May 25, 1995, requesting change of date of birth in service record. The Petitioner sent reminders on January 8, 1996 and November 19, 1996. However, his requests were not responded to. The Petitioner thereafter secured an order from the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Ghodnadi on January 19, 2022 to the concerned authorities in the his village to change his birthdate to December 24, 1968. Thereafter, he published in a Government Gazette on July 27, 2023 about the change in his birthdate and then in January 2024 filed an application before the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) seeking a direction to the State authorities to enforce the order of the Judicial Magistrate, who had in January 2022 ordered the change of his birthdate.The State opposed the said application stating that as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Civil Services (General Conditions) Rules, 1981, a change can be effected only when there is a clerical error on the part of the government department in recording the correct date and that the same can be done only when there is a request made within 5 years of an individual's joining. The bench noted that the petitioner failed to make such an application within 5 years of his joining and therefore, dismissed the petition. Appearance: Senior Advocate Anil Sakhare along with Advocate Gaurav Bandiwadekar appeared for the Petitioner.Assistant Government Pleader NK Rajpurohit represented the State.Case Title: Dnyaneshwar Katkar vs The Director General & Inspector General of Police (Writ Petition 6847 of 2024)Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Bom) 47Click Here To Read/Download Judgment

Requests Made By Govt Employees To Change Birthdate In Service Records Beyond Reasonable Time Should Not Be Entertained: Bombay High Court

Narsi Benwal

Tags