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Judgment
Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge (Oral)
By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has inter alia prayed for the following reliefs:-
“(i)That a writ in the nature of certiorari may kindly be issued to the Respondents to quash the Annexure P-5 conveying the rejection of his Representation.
ii.That a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or directions may kindly be issued to the Respondents to correct the date Best of birth of the Petitioner from 23.04.1978 to 23.04.1979 in the service record.
iii.That a writ in the nature of mandamus may please also be issued to make necessary entries of the correction of date of birth in the service record of the Petitioner and it is further prayed that the Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 may be directed to superannuate the Petitioner on basis of the correct date of birth i.e. 23.04.1979 and release all the consequential benefits.”
Brief facts necessary for the adjudication of this petition are that the petitioner was appointed as a Lecturer on PTA basis on 30.08.2006. Her services were regularized in the month of August 2020. On 08.04.2021, the petitioner instituted a civil suit, seeking declaration that her date of birth was not 23.04.1978 but was 23.04.1979. The suit was decreed on 31.10.2022. Copy of the judgment and decree passed by the learned Trial Court is appended with the petition as Annexure P-1. Thereafter, the petitioner got the necessary changes made in her matriculation certificate from the HP Board of School Education and in terms of Annexure P-2, in the matriculation certificate, her date of birth was changed to 23.04.1979. This certificate was issued on 13.01.2023. Thereafter, the petitioner in terms of Annexure P-3, dated 13.02.2023, approached the respondent-Department for entering the correct date of birth in her service book but the same was denied on the ground that she did not approach the employer within two years as from the date of entry in service and hence this petition.
Having heard learned Counsel for the petitioner as also learned Additional Advocate General, this Court is of the considered view that in the peculiar facts of this case, the respondents-State cannot deny the change of date of birth in the service record of the petitioner.
Though, it is a matter of record that the petitioner was engaged as a Lecturer, on PTA basis, on 30.08.2006, but her appointment at that time was not made by the Government but was made by a Parent Teacher Association. She actually came into the service of the Government only when her services were regularized in the month of August, 2020. Thereafter, as mentioned hereinabove also, she instituted a civil suit on 08.04.2021 for correction of her date of birth. Decree was passed in her favour on 31.10.2022. She got the necessary changes incorporated in her matriculation certificate in the month of January, 2023 and immediately thereafter, she approached the respondents on 13.02.2023 for the correction of date of birth in her service record.
This Court cannot ignore the fact that immediately after the services of the petitioner were regularized in the month of August, 2020, she filed a civil suit for change in the date of birth without losing much time in the month of April, 2021. Therefore, in the present case, it is not as if the petitioner has approached the Department for entry/correction in the service book qua her date of birth at a belated stage.
This Court is of the considered view that as the petitioner had filed the civil suit, seeking correction in the date of birth within two years as from the date when her services were regularized and thereafter, she approached the Department within two years as from the date when the decree was passed in her favour, her case could not have been rejected by the employer, by falling back upon the provisions of Rule 7 (1) of the HP Financial Rules, as has been done in the present case in the peculiar facts of this case.
Accordingly, in the light of above discussion, this petition is allowed. Communication Annexure P-5, dated 31.08.2023, in terms whereof, the prayer of the petitioner for carrying out necessary correction in her service book qua her date of birth has been rejected is quashed and set aside. The respondents are directed to carry out necessary corrections in her service book effecting the change of date of birth therein in terms of the decree passed by the civil court in her favour, as also the date of birth which is now reflected in the matriculation certificate. Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, also stand disposed of.