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Himachal HC rejects plea for correction of date of birth, cites delay and Supreme Court precedents

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The Himachal Pradesh High Court has dismissed a plea by a government employee seeking correction of her date of birth in official records, holding that such requests cannot be entertained at the fag end of service.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma delivered the ruling while upholding a Single Judge’s 2024 order that had earlier rejected the petition filed by Satya, a Junior Engineer in the Jal Shakti Vibhag.

The appellant had sought to change her date of birth from January 6, 1969 to October 24, 1969 on the basis of entries in the Pariwar Register and panchayat records. However, the Court noted that her representation for correction was made in 2017 — 17 years after joining service in 2000, far beyond the permissible period.

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Citing Rule 7.1 of Chapter VII of the Himachal Pradesh Financial Rules, 1971, the Bench observed, “The request has to be made within two years from the date of his/her entry into the Government service.”

The judges further relied on multiple Supreme Court rulings, including Union of India vs. Harnam Singh (1993) 2 SCC 162, reiterating that belated attempts to alter service records cannot be permitted.

On the appellant’s reliance on a civil court decree obtained in 2015, the Bench clarified that it did not aid her case as the employer was not made a party, “The resort as such to filing of Civil Suit by specifically not arraying the employer as a party … is also an adverse circumstance which has to be taken against the present appellant.”

Rejecting the contention that a representation was made in 2002, the Court held the plea was bound by the employee’s own admission in the civil suit that she came to know of the discrepancy only in 2014.

“There is nothing on record to show that any representation was made before 2017… Therefore, the application for change of her date of birth was liable to be rejected on the ground of delay and laches and specially when the request… has been made at the fag end of service,” the judgment stated.

Finding no illegality in the earlier order, the Division Bench concluded, “The view taken by the learned Single Judge does not suffer from any infirmity or illegality which would warrant interference in the Letters Patent Appeal.”

Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed.

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