Date Of Birth Recorded In HSC Pass Certificate Is To Be Taken As The Date Of Birth For All Purposes: Orissa High Court

A single bench of the Orissa High Court comprising of Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy while deciding a Writ Petition in the case of Madan Raul vs State of Orissa & Ors has held that date of birth recorded in the HSC Pass Certificate is to be taken as the Date of birth for all purposes.

Background Facts

Madan Raul (Petitioner) entered into service in 1968 as a Peon. His date of birth was recorded as 12.07.1948 in the service book opened after this appointment. The Petitioner had not passed his HSC Pass Examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Odisha (Board) when he was appointed as a Peon. However, he cleared this examination in August 1970 and in the HSC Certificate issued by the Board, the date of birth of the Petitioner was recorded as 12.07.1950. Further the date of birth of the Petitioner in the Transfer Certificate was also mentioned as 12.07.1950.

Based on the HSC certificate and Transfer Certificate, the Petitioner was appointed as a Diarist-cum-Typist in 1973 and in the subsequent service book opened after his new appointment, his date of birth was recorded as 12.07.1950. Based on his date of birth to be 12.07.1950, the Petitioner was supposed to retire on 31.07.2008 but the Respondent passed an order of retirement of the dated 17.08.2006 by which the Petitioner was made to retire from service on 31.07.2006 considering his date of birth to be 12.07.1948.

The Petitioner challenged the retirement order before the Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal). However, the Tribunal was subsequently abolished and the matter was transferred to the High Court.

It was contended by the Petitioner that his date of birth recorded in his service book after joining as Diarist-cum-Typist was not objected to by anyone and was never corrected by following the due process of law. Further, since the date of birth in the 1973 service book was recorded after taking into account the HSC Pass certificate of the Petitioner, the Petitioner could not be made to retire in 2006.

On the other hand, it was contended by the Respondent that since the date of birth of the Petitioner while joining as a Peon was recorded as 12.07.1948, he was made to retire on attaining the age of 58 years, which fell due on 31.07.2006. Thus, no illegality had been committed by the Respondent.

Findings of the Court

The court observed that in both the HSC Certificate and the Transfer Certificate, the date of birth of the Petitioner was recorded as 12.07.1950. The said date of birth was also recorded in service book of the Petitioner opened after he joined as Diarist-Cum-Typist. The court further held that:

This Court is of the view that date of birth recorded in the HSC Pass Certificate is to be taken as the Date of birth for all purposes.

The court thus held that 12.07.1950 should be taken as the date of birth of the Petitioner and the Petitioner should have retired on 31.07.2008 instead of 31.07.2006. However, since the Petitioner had not discharged any duty for the period 01.08.2006 to 31.07.2008, he was not be entitled to get any salary for the said period. However, the court ordered the pay of the petitioner be notionally fixed and further ordered revision of pensionary benefits.

With the aforesaid observations, the court allowed the writ petition and quashed the order of retirement

Case No.- WPC (OAS ) NO.50 of 2018

Case Name- Madan Raul vs State of Orissa & Ors

Counsel for the Petitioner- Mr. L. Sahu, Adv.

Counsel for Respondents- nil

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