IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. L.P.A. No.20 of 2010 (O&M) Date of decision:20.1.2010 Harnam Singh -----Appellant Vs. Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh -----Respondent CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ALOK SINGH Present:- Dr. Surya Parkash, Advocate, for the appellant. --- Adarsh Kumar Goel,J. 1. This appeal has been preferred against order of learned Single Judge dismissing the writ petition seeking correction in date of birth from 19.8.1959 to 19.8.1960. 2. The appellant joined judicial service on 6.3.1991 and at the time of entry into service, he declared his date of birth as 19.8.1959 on the basis of school record. In 1993, he filed a suit seeking change in date of birth from 19.8.1959 to 19.8.1960 and decree dated 26.5.1994 was granted. On that basis, he got correction made in the LPA No.20 of 2010 (O&M) School Education Board record in 1996 and made application for change in the service record which was rejected on 11.9.1997. Thereafter, in 2001, he filed a writ petition seeking mandamus for change in date of birth. Learned Single Judge rejected the prayer on the ground that such a prayer could be made only within two years from the date of entry into service as per Rule 2.5 of the Punjab Civil Service Rules, Volume I, part I. 3. We have heard learned counsel for the appellant. 4. It is patent that even after passing Matric which the appellant claims to have passed in the year 1975, date of birth was never claimed to be wrong. It has been stated that the appellant got horoscope after entry into judicial service and he then came to know that his date of birth was wrongly mentioned. 5. There is no ground to accept such a story put forward by the appellant. It is well known that declaration of date of birth in service record can be corrected only within the stipulated time and that too only if the employer is satisfied about genuineness of need for change. Mere filing of suit for grant of decree against 2 LPA No.20 of 2010 (O&M) Education Board, wherein employer is not a party cannot be a ground to force the employer to change the date of birth. In State of Punjab and others v. S.C.Chadha, (2004) 3 SCC 394, factors to be taken into account while dealing with claim for change of date of birth were indicated which include effect on seniority of other employees and delay in seeking correction after coming to know of the error. It was observed that when a date is mentioned in the school certificate, there was no justification for delay in seeking correction of that date. 6. Thus, we do not find any ground to interfere with the view taken by the learned Single Judge. 7. The appeal is dismissed. (Adarsh Kumar Goel) Judge January 20, 2010 (Alok Singh) ‘gs’ Judge 3