An employee cannot seek correction of date of birth belatedly in service records; SC.

Supreme Court of India

Justice A S Bopanna and Justice R Banumathi

It was held by the SC {Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. & Ors. v. Shyam Kishore Singh} that in the instant case, as on the date of joining and as also in the year 1987 when the respondent/ employee had an opportunity to fill up the Nomination Form and rectify the defect if any, he had indicated the date of birth as 04.03.1950 and had further reiterated the same when Provident Fund Nomination Form was filled in 1998. It is only after more than 30 years from the date of his joining service, for the first time in the year 2009 he had made the representation. Further the respondent did not avail the judicial remedy immediately thereafter, before retirement.   Instead, the respondent retired from service on 31.03.2010 and even thereafter the writ petition was filed only in the year 2014, after four years   from   the   date   of   his   retirement. It was held that in   that circumstance, the indulgence shown to the respondent by the High Court was not justified. Accordingly, the judgment of the HC was set aside and the appeal was allowed. 

In the present case, the contention of the respondent herein relating to the change of date of birth in the service records was accepted by the high court   and   a   direction   has   been   issued   to   the appellants to pay the sum equivalent   to salary of one year for the period between the April, 2010 to March, 2011.   The employer thus being aggrieved challenged it before the SC in this appeal.