Facts
The petitioner was appointed as a Driver in the Medical Department, Manipur, on 25.11.1977.
Source reference: p. 2, para. 3His date of birth (DOB) was originally recorded in his service book and the Manipur Government Employees List (MGEL) as 04.03.1957.
Source reference: p. 2, para. 3In 2015, nearing retirement, the petitioner approached the Administrative Officer (AO) to correct his DOB to 01.03.1960. The AO issued an order on 05.09.2015 allowing the correction.
Source reference: p. 2-3, para. 3Subsequently, the Director of Health Services issued an order dated 17.11.2017 retiring the petitioner effective 31.03.2017 based on the original 1957 record.
Source reference: p. 4, para. 5The petitioner challenged this retirement, claiming he should serve until 28.02.2020 (or 2022) based on the corrected DOB.
Source reference: p. 4, para. 5; p. 5, para. 7Issues
1. Whether the correction of the petitioner's date of birth by the Administrative Officer was based on valid documentation and legally sustainable.
Source reference: p. 7, para. 132. Whether a government servant can seek correction of their date of birth at the fag end of their service career.
Source reference: p. 8, para. 14Law Applied
Section 4 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which mandates a minimum age of 18 years to obtain a driving license.
Source reference: p. 5, para. 8The established legal principle that a government employee is not permitted to seek correction of their date of birth at the "fag end" of their career, especially when they have regularly signed and acknowledged the existing service records throughout their tenure.
Source reference: p. 8, para. 14Reasoning
If the petitioner's DOB were 01.03.1960, he would have been under 18 during the 1977 recruitment DPC, making him ineligible for a driving license and the post of Driver.
Source reference: p. 5, para. 8The "duplicate" educational certificate used to justify the DOB correction was issued on 04.10.2016, a year after the AO had already issued the correction order in 2015, rendering the AO's order baseless.
Source reference: p. 6-7, para. 10, 13School authorities (Respondents 3 & 4) filed affidavits stating they had no records to support the certificate and that it was issued in "good faith" based on a photocopy provided by the petitioner.
Source reference: p. 6, para. 9; p. 7-8, para. 12The Court noted that the petitioner had signed his service book annually since 1977, implying full knowledge of the 1957 DOB entry.
Source reference: p. 8, para. 14Holding
The Court specifically held that the petitioner could not claim a different DOB at the end of his career after decades of acknowledging the original entry.
The Court dismissed the writ petition, holding that the correction order issued by the Administrative Officer was unsustainable as it lacked valid supporting documentation and upheld the impugned retirement order dated 17.11.2017.
Source reference: p. 7, para. 13; p. 9, para. 16Original Court PDF
M INAOCHA SINGHvsSTATE OF MANIPUR
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