Employee's Request To Change DoB In Service Records Cannot Be Entertained At The Fag End Of Service: SC [Read Judgment]

If a particular date of birth is entered in the service register of an employee, a change sought cannot be entertained at the fag end of service, the Supreme Court has reiterated.

The bench comprising Justices R. Banumathi and AS Bopanna observed that, even if there is good evidence to establish that the recorded date of birth is erroneous, the correction cannot be claimed as a matter of right.

In this case, the employee, after more than 30 years from the date of his joining service, made the representation to correct date of birth in his service records. The High Court had granted relief to the employee and therefore, the employer company approached the Apex Court in appeal.

In support of his case, the judgment in Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. & Ors. vs. Chhota Birasa Uranw (2014) 12 SCC 570 was relied upon by the employee. Distinguishing the said judgment, the bench observed:

In the said case it was taken note that in 1987 on implementation Page 13 of 16 of the National Coal Wage Agreement (iii) was put into operation for stabilising the service records of the employees and all its employees were provided a chance to identify and rectify the discrepancies in the service records by providing them a nomination form containing details of their service records. In the cited case the respondent (employee) therein had noticed the inconsistencies in the records regarding his date of birth, date of appointment, father's name and permanent address and availed the opportunity to seek correction. Though he had sought for the correction of the errors, the other discrepancies were set right but the date of birth and the date of appointment had however remained unchanged and it is in that view the employee had again raised a dispute regarding the same and the judicial remedy was sought wherein the benefit was extended to him

While setting aside the High Court judgment, the bench referred to the judgment in State of Maharashtra and Anr. vs. Gorakhnath Sitaram Kamble & Ors. (2010) 14 SCC 423 to hold that request for change of the date of birth in the service records at the fag end of service is not sustainable 

Case name: Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. vs. Shyam Kishore Singh
Case no .: CIVIL APPEAL NO.     1009       OF 2020 
Coram: Justices R. Banumathi and AS Bopanna
Counsel: ASG K.M. Natraj for Appellant, Adv M. Shoeb Alam for Respondents

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