1 WP No. 4326/2011 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.4326 OF 2011 Shri Bhanwarlal Gopalji Earniya .. Petitioner Vs Union of India, through Secretary and ors .. Respondents Dr. G.R.Sharma with Mr. Vijay Shinde, Advocate, for the petitioner. Ms.Jyotsna Pandhi a/w Mr Purnima Awasthi, for the respondents. CORAM : D.B.BHOSALE & M.L. TAHALIYANI,JJ. DATE : 22/09/2011 PC: 1. Heard learned counsel for the parties. 2. By this writ petition, the petitioner has impugned the Office Memorandum/Order dated 9.3.2011 issued by respondent no.3, whereby his application seeking alteration of the date of birth has been rejected. The order dated 9.3.2011 reads thus :- "Mr B.L.Earniya may please refer to his letter dated 31.12.2010 requesting for altering his date of birth already entered in his service record. As per rules, date of birth declared by the Govt.Servant and accepted by the appointing authority, shall not be subjected to any change except where, an application in this regard is made within 5 years, establishing T 2 WP No. 4326/2011 that a genuine bona fide mistake has occurred while entering the date of birth. In this case, the date of birth as per the Secondary School Certificate, submitted by Mr B.L.Earniya, showed his date of birth as 10.6.1951 and the same has been accepted by the competent authorities. The letter dated 3.12.2010 submitted by Mr Earniya is time barred and, therefore, cannot be considered for recommending to the competent authority. Hence his date of birth in the official record will remain as 10.6.1951." 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner, who had joined as attendant on 1.1.1980, had submitted an application (Exhibit A-2) for seeking correction of his birth date within five years from the date of his joining, however, the concerned authority did not consider it within time and for the first time rejected the petitioner's claim by the order impugned in the present petition. The petitioner claims that his correct date of birth is 10.6.1953. 4. We have perused the application dated 4.7.1984 (Exhibit- A-2). This letter does not have any annexure, such as, proof of birth date. That apart, the petitioner has not produced any acknowledgment of having tendered the said letter in July,1984. The respondents have denied receipt of the letter dated 4.7.1984 (Exhibit A-2). In view thereof, it is not possible to 3 WP No. 4326/2011 accept that the application was made by the petitioner seeking correction of his birth date. The learned counsel for the petitioner also placed on record the birth certificate and School Leaving Certificate issued by the concerned authorities showing the birth date of the petitioner as 10.6.1953. Both the certificates are issued by the State of M.P. and the School in Ujjain respectively. These documents are issued by the concerned authorities for the first time in 2009 and 2011. Admittedly, these documents were not produced by the petitioner along with his application Exhibit-A-2. Moreover, genuineness of these certificates cannot be verified in writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. It is an admitted position that the petitioner has retired from service during pendency of the petition. In the circumstances, we do not find any force in the submissions advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioner. Hence, the writ petition is dismissed on merits as well as on the ground of delay and latches. (M.L. Tahaliyani,J.) (D. B. Bhosale, J.) 4 WP No. 4326/2011