Government employees can not be allowed to change date of birth at fag end of career: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared that a plea seeking change in date of birth by a government employee cannot be made as a matter of right. Such a request also cannot be allowed at the fag end of one's career.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and A S Bopanna allowed an appeal filed by the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd against the High Court's order for change in date of birth of an employee.

In its judgement, the court noted that the determination of the age of the state government employees is governed by the Karnataka State Servant (Determination of Age) Act, 1974. The law, among others, stated that an application for alteration in date of birth can be made within three years of entry of the details in the service book or within one year of the commencement of the Act.

In this case, the court agreed to a submission by senior advocate Gurudas S Kannur, and advocates Chinmay Deshpande and Anirudh Sanganeria on behalf of the corporation.

The employee was not entitled to any relief or change in date of birth on the ground of delay and laches as the request for change of date of birth was made after a lapse of 24 years since he joined the service and 16 years after adoption of the 1974 Act by the employer, it said.

"Being the employee of the corporation, he was supposed to know the rules and regulations applicable to the employees of the corporation. Ignorance of law cannot be an excuse to get out of the applicability of the statutory provisions," the bench said.

Summarising the law in this regard, the top court said the application for changing date of birth can only be as per the relevant provisions or regulations applicable; and even if there is cogent evidence, it cannot be claimed as a matter of right. Further, such an application can be rejected on the ground of delay and latches also more particularly when it is made at the fag end of service and/or when the employee is about to retire on attaining the age of superannuation.

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