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2025 DIGILAW 1334 (TS)

R. Narender Rao v. State of Telangana

2025-10-29

NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA

body2025
ORDER : Nagesh Bheemapaka, J. The facts of the case are : petitioner was initially appointed as Assistant Executive Engineer in Public Health & Municipal Engineering Department and was allotted to G.H.M.C. in 1986. He joined duty on 22-01-1986; at that time, his date of birth was recorded as 16-08-1962 both in figures and words. Later on, he was promoted as Deputy Executive Engineer, Executive Engineer and Superintending Engineer in which post he is presently working. 1.1. It is the case of petitioner that Bona fide Certificate issued by Modern K.G. & Upper Primary School, Kachiguda, Hyderabad where he studied from Class I to VII, Birth Certificate issued by Jangaon Municipal Council and relevant Employee details issued by the authorities of Respondent Corporation way back on 17-08-1994 (both in figures and words) and 20-08-1996 etcetera would go to show that his date of birth is 16-08-1962. Subsequently, pursuant to A.P. Reorganization Act 2014, petitioner is stated to have submitted option for Telangana State along with all the service particulars mentioning date of birth as 16-08-1962. At that time, the 2nd respondent had scrutinized the factual accuracy and certified the option form and documents submitted by him and communicated the verified data to the GA (SR) Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh and now he is taking ‘U’ turn and stated that his date of birth is 14.02.1961. Thereafter, Government of Andhra Pradesh vide Notification dated 27.08.2015 issued tentative allocation lists of State cadre employees of ENC public health. Consequently the Government of India, Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions, Department of Personnel & Training issued Order dated 12.09.2016 by exercising powers conferred under Section 77(2) of A.P. Reorganization Act, 2014 allocating him to Telangana State and his name reflected at Sl. No.22 with date of birth as 16.08.1962, so also in A.P. Gazette. 1.2. Strangely, now after 32 years, the 2 nd Respondent vide Memo dated 17-01-2018 as there is a discrepancy in the date of birth, asked petitioner to produce S.S.C. Original Certificate, stating that failure to submit the said Certificate for would be presumed that date of birth is 14-02-1961 and entry in the Service Register and other records would be corrected as per the above date of birth. Similarly, Memo dated 04-04-2018 was issued to which petitioner is stated to have submitted representation on 20-04-2018. Similarly, Memo dated 04-04-2018 was issued to which petitioner is stated to have submitted representation on 20-04-2018. Notwithstanding the same, yet another Memo dated 16-05-2018 was issued stating that as per the records and the A.P. Gazette Notification dated 06-02-1986 his date of birth is 14-02-1961 and that if he does not submit original S.S.C. Certificate, the same should be treated as final notice. 1.3. Petitioner draws attention of this Court to Section 78 of the 2014 Act which is as follows:- “ 78.(1) Nothing in this section or in section 77 shall be deemed to affect, on or after the appointed day, the operation of the provisions of Chapter 1 of Part XIV of the Constitution in relation to determination of the conditions of service of persons serving in connection with the affairs of the union or any state; Provided that the conditions of service applicable immediately before the appointed day in the case of any person deemed to have been allocated to the state of Andhra Pradesh or to the State of Telangana under Section 77 shall not be varied to his disadvantage except with the previous approval of the Central Government.” Further, the competent authority has not issued orders altering the date of birth after due process of law and as such impugned proceedings issued is totally unauthorized, void ab initio. 1.4. While the matter stood thus, the 2 nd Respondent issued order dated 04-01-2019 confirming his date of birth as 14-02-1961. In the said proceedings, it is mentioned that the Student Verification Certificate issued by All Saints School, Gunfoundry and as per Age Certificate issued by the Additional Joint Secretary, Director of Government Examination, Telangana, Hyderabad, his date of birth is 14-02-1961. Without furnishing the above copies, the impugned proceedings are issued which is in violation of the principles of natural justice. Aggrieved by the same, representation dated 17-01-2019 is stated to have been issued to the 1 st Respondent inter alia mentioning the above details including the fact that marriage of his parents took place on 10-03-1961 and therefore, he could not have born on 14-02-1961 and enclosing copies of Passport, Pancard, Driving License, Aadhaar, etcetera. However, without considering the said representation the 1st Respondent issued G.O. Rt. No. 161 dated 15-02-2019 stating his date of retirement as 28-02-2019 and the same has necessitated the filing of the present Writ Petition. 1.5. However, without considering the said representation the 1st Respondent issued G.O. Rt. No. 161 dated 15-02-2019 stating his date of retirement as 28-02-2019 and the same has necessitated the filing of the present Writ Petition. 1.5. In Writ Petition No. 23086 of 2003, this Court by order dated 14-12-2017 held that alterations made after 25 years is not permissible. The principle laid down in the said Writ Petition applies to the facts of the present case. As per G.O. Ms. No.165 dated 21-04-1984, date of birth cannot be altered by the employer also and that the principle that date of birth cannot be altered at the fag end of service would equally apply to the Employer. 2. In the counter filed on behalf of Respondents 1 and 2, it is stated that upon routine verification of Service Books of some officers, it has come to notice that date of birth of petitioner was overwritten as 16-08-1962. His date of birth as per the Gazette notification No. 5A, dated 06-02-1986 at page No. 53 issued by the APPSC in which he was selected as Assistant Executive Engineer and in the seniority list published vide proceedings dated 29-09-2010, same date of birth i.e. 14-02-1961 was mentioned. As S.S.C. certificate is the authentic document for entry of date of birth in the service book and to verify date of birth in case of discrepancy, petitioner was directed to submit the original certificate for verification by 31-01-2018 vide Memo dated 17-01-2018, followed by reminder dated 16-02-2018, but he failed to submit the same. A final notice was issued on 04-04-2018, if certificate is not produced, it would be presumed that his date of birth is 14-02-1961 as per the Gazette Notification No. 5A, dated 06-02-1986 and all his records would be corrected as per the above date of birth. 2.1. Petitioner submitted representation dated 20-04-2018 stating that date of birth shown in the allocation order dated 12.09.2016 given by the Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions, Government of India had become final and is not susceptible to any correction to his detriment. 2.1. Petitioner submitted representation dated 20-04-2018 stating that date of birth shown in the allocation order dated 12.09.2016 given by the Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions, Government of India had become final and is not susceptible to any correction to his detriment. Further, vide Memo dated 16-05-2018, petitioner was informed that date of birth mentioned in final allocation order cannot be considered as authenticated date of birth, hence, once again, directed to submit SSC Original certificate by 30-05-2018, failing which the date of birth would be taken as per A.P. Gazette Notification dated 06-02-1986 and the same would be recorded in the Service Book. However, he failed to submit SSC Original Certificate. 2.2. Therefore, the office of Respondents 1 and 2 addressed the Principal, All Saints High School, Abids, Hyderabad to furnish the date of birth of petitioner where he studied 8 th to 10 th class from 5/1973 to 3/1976. The Head Master issued Student Verification Certificate dated 18-12-2018 confirming the date of birth as 14-02-1961. Further, the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Nampally, Hyderabad confirmed the date of birth as 14-02-1961. As the date of birth published in the APPSC gazette notification is matching with the date of birth certified by All Saints’ High School, Gunfoundry and Additional Joint Secretary, Director of Government Examination, Telangana and in view of the overwriting/corrections in service book, it was taken into account that the correct date of birth of petitioner is 14-02-1961. Accordingly, speaking orders were issued on 04-01-2019 to petitioner confirming his date of birth as 14-02-1961 and orders were issued to the Chief Accounts Officer, Office of Engineer-in-Chief (PH) for making necessary entries in the Service Book and accordingly, necessary entries were made in the Service Register, duly restoring the original entry of the date of birth i.e., 14-02-1961. Further, proposal was sent to Government vide Letter dated 08-01-2019 for issue of notification of the officers who are going to retire during 2019 including petitioner on 28-02-2019. 2.3. Then, petitioner submitted a representation along with enclosures to Government stating that marriage of his parents took place on 10-03-1961 and he was born at Janagaon on 16-08-1962 and enclosed the copies of date of birth certificate issued by the Statutory Authority Commissioner/Registrar birth and death, Janagaon Municipality in support of his claim. 2.3. Then, petitioner submitted a representation along with enclosures to Government stating that marriage of his parents took place on 10-03-1961 and he was born at Janagaon on 16-08-1962 and enclosed the copies of date of birth certificate issued by the Statutory Authority Commissioner/Registrar birth and death, Janagaon Municipality in support of his claim. He also submitted that, the above date of birth was also entered in his Service Book as well as Indian passport, Aadhar Card, etcetera. The Government after careful examination of the issue, rejected the said request vide Memo dated 26-02-2019. In view of the same, the Writ Petition is liable to be dismissed. 3. Sri D. Linga Rao, learned counsel for petitioner submits that in the school record, the date of birth of petitioner is erroneously entered as 14.02.1961, but at the time of petitioner’s entry into service, based on the declaration, respondents accepted his date of birth as 16.08.1962 in terms of G.O.Ms.No. 165, dated 21.04.1984. He submits that respondents, without giving any opportunity to petitioner, cannot unilaterally alter the date of birth of petitioner. According to learned counsel, as per Section 77 of the Reorganisation Act, no State can take any decision to the disadvantage of an employee and in the instant case, petitioner’s date of birth was already determined by respondents as 16.08.1962, therefore, the same cannot be altered without giving any opportunity to him. He relies on the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in P. Pochamma v. Prl. Secretary, Technical Education , [ 2004(4) ALT 156 (DB)] and submits that date of birth as entered in service register should not be changed unless there is unimpeachable evidence. 4. Heard learned Government Pleader for Municipal Administration and Urban Development on behalf of respondents. 5. Having perused the material on record and having considered the submissions made on behalf of both the parties, it is evident that petitioner has not produced original SSC certificate to demonstrate his actual date of birth and also he has not produced the same to the authorities when he was asked to produce the same for verification and that he approached this Court at the fag end of his career seeking correction of date of birth. Respondents having noticed certain alterations in respect of date of birth of petitioner, had given an opportunity to produce relevant documents, but he failed to do so. Respondents having noticed certain alterations in respect of date of birth of petitioner, had given an opportunity to produce relevant documents, but he failed to do so. Respondents had therefore, addressed the Principal, All Saints High School, Abids to furnish the details of petitioner’s date of birth where he studied 8th to 10th class from 05/1973 to 03/1976. The Head Master confirmed the date of birth as 14.02.1961. At the request of respondents, the Additional Joint Secretary, Director of Government Examination, Telangana, Hyderabad had issued age certificate dated 03.01.2019 confirming the date of birth as 14.02.1961. Since the date of birth published in APPSC Gazette Notification is matching with the one provided by the All Saints School and Additional Joint Secretary, Director of Government Examination and in view of the overwriting / correction in service book, the correct date of birth of petitioner was taken as 14.02.1961 and accordingly, speaking orders were issued on 04.01.2019 confirming the date of birth as 14.02.1961 and orders were issued to the Chief Accounts Officer, Office of Engineer in Chief (OH) for making necessary entries in the Service Book and accordingly, necessary entries were made in the Service Register duly restoring the original entry of the date of birth i.e. 14.01.1961. Hence, it cannot be said that petitioner was not given any opportunity and the judgment relied on by the learned counsel cited supra, is not applicable to the case on hand. 6. In the light of the above, this Court does not find any infirmity in G.O.Rt.No. 161, dated 15.02.2019 issued by Respondents 1 and 2 insofar as retiring petitioner with effect from 28.02.2019. The Writ Petition is therefore, liable to be dismissed. 7. The Writ Petition is accordingly, dismissed. No costs. 8. Consequently, miscellaneous Applications, if any shall stand closed.