IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA CWP No.1046 of 2005 Decided on: March 16, 2009. Bhagwan Singh …Petitioner Versus HP State Administrative Tribunal and others …Respondents Coram The Hon’ble Mr. Justice R.B. Misra, Judge. The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Surjit Singh, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1 No. For the Petitioner : Mr. Rajnish Maniktala, Advocate. For the Respondents: Mr. P.K. Sharma, Addl. A.G. with Mr. Ramesh Thakur, Assistant Advocate General. Surjit Singh, Judge (oral) Petitioner seeks judicial review of order dated 26th May, 2005, passed by the H.P. State Administrative Tribunal, whereby his Original Application (M) No.398 of 2004, challenging the notification of his superannuation, has been dismissed. 2. Petitioner was employed as Grounds Man in the State Electricity Board in the year 1964. Thereafter he got a few promotions. It appears that in the year 1990 a fire took place in the office of State Electricity Board at Nahan, where the service record of the petitioner was kept and maintained. In that fire service book and other service record of the petitioner got destroyed. Petitioner and other employees (whose service record too got destroyed) were called upon to Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? …2… file affidavits with regard to their dates of birth and also to submit documentary evidence in support thereof. Petitioner filed an affidavit in the year 1991, declaring his date of birth to be 13.7.1947. Alongwith that affidavit, he submitted an entry in the Parivar Register. On the basis of this affidavit and the copy of entry in the Parivar Register his date of birth was entered as 13.7.1947 in his duplicate service book (original having been destroyed in the fire). However, there were a number of documents available with the respondents wherein the year of birth of the petitioner was reflected as 1943. In the record, there were seniority lists and promotion orders, issued prior to incident of fire and in all those papers the year of birth of petitioner was recorded as 1943. Therefore, on the basis of those documents the respondents worked out the age of superannuation of petitioner and retired him w.e.f. 31.12.2001. 3. Petitioner was dissatisfied with the action of the respondents regarding his retirement as he claimed that his date of birth was 13th July, 1947. Learned Tribunal dismissed his petition holding that his claim was not correct. Reasoning given by the Tribunal is that prior to destruction of service book of the petitioner in the incident of fire, his year of birth was being recorded as 1943 in his record and the petitioner had never challenged or applied for correction of his date of birth prior to the said incident of fire. Another reason given by the Tribunal is that the claim of the petitioner cannot be said to be genuine, because he could not have been employed in the year 1964, if his date of birth were 13th July, 1947, as he was only …3… 16 ½ years of age at that time and a minor could not have been appointed. 4. We have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and gone through the record. 5. It is not in dispute that prior to the gutting of record in fire incident in the year 1990, petitioner’s year of birth was being shown as 1943 in the service record. It is also not in dispute that the petitioner never applied for correction of his date of birth. It was only after his service book got destroyed in the fire and he was asked to furnish affidavit of his date of birth that he came forward with the plea that he was born on 13th July, 1943 and believing his claim to be correct, the aforesaid date was entered as his date of birth in his duplicate service book, original having been destroyed in fire. Petitioner cannot take advantage of his own misrepresentation, especially when it is not in dispute that earlier his year of birth was being shown as 1943 in his service record, as noticed hereinabove. 6. In view of the above stated position, we find no merit in the writ petition. The same is, therefore, dismissed. (R.B. Misra), J. March 16, 2009, (ss) (Surjit Singh ), J.