NARINDER KAURversusPUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT & ORS.

                                                                      l'

                     [2011] 2 S.C.R. 535


                      NARINDER KAUR                               A
                               v.
        PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT & ORS.
            (Civil Appeal No(s). 1380 of 2011)

                     FEBRUARY 04, 2011
                                                                  B
        [J.M. PANCHAL AND H.L. GOKHALE, JJ.]

       Service Law - Date of birth - Change in service record
 - Application by appellant-Civil Judge within two years from
  date of her entry into Government service to correct date of C
  birth from 26.01.1971 to 09.01.1972 - Rejection of, by the
  Registrar of the High Court - Writ petition also dismissed ~ ·
  On appeal held: No material was produced on record to show
  that the appellant took undue advantage of the recorded date
  of birth - After receipt of the application for change of birth D
  date, no inquiry undertaken by the High Court - It was
  preposterous on the part of the High Court to assume that the
  members of the Selection Committee while selecting the
  appellant as Civil Judge must have been influenced by the
  age of the appella11t declared by her in the application form E J
  for selection - Director, Health & Family Welfare-cum-Chief
  Registrar, Births and Deaths filed affidavit to the effect that the
  correct date of birth of the appellant as per births and deaths
. record was 09.01.1972 - Presumptive value is attached to
· birth and death records - T.h11s, application made by appellant F
  to change he.r date of birth from 26.01.1971 to 09.01.1972 is
  allowed - Punjab Financial Volume I Rules, 2001 - Punjab
  Financial Volume I (Haryana First Amendment) Rules, 2001.

     CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No.
 1380 of 2011.                                                    G

      From the Judgment & Order dated 20.04.2006 of the High
 Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in CWP No. 16151
 of 2003.           '               -
  . I
             ...              535                                 H
     536      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                   [2011] 2 S.C.R.


 A      P.N. Mishra, Harikesh Singh, T. Singh, Sohovan, Kamal
     Mohan Gupta for the Appellant.

         Manjit Singh, Ajay Pal, Abha Jain, Naresh Bakshi for the
     Respondents.
 B      · The following order of the Court was delivered

                                  ORDER
           Leave granted.

 C      This appeal is directed against the judgment dated
   20.4.2006 rendered by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at .
   Chandigarh in CWP No.16151 of 2003 by which the prayer
   made by the appellant to quash order dated 12.5.2002 passed
   by the Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh on its
 D administrative side declining the request made by the appellant
   for effecting change in her date of birth from 26.1.1971 to
   9.1.1972 is rejected.

          From the record of the case, it is evident that the appellant
  E was selected to the Haryana Civil Services {Judicial) and was
     posted as Civil Judge {Jr. Division) Ambala City. She joined
     her duties on 20.5.2000. The case of the appellant is that her
     date of birth is 9.1.1972 but it was wrongly mentioned in the
     records as 26.1.1971, on the basis of factually incorrect birth
. F certificate wherein her date of birth was shown to be 26.1.1971.
     The Governor of Haryana in exercise of powers conferred by
     clause (2) of Article 283 of the Constitution made Punjab
     Financial Volume I {Haryana First Amendment) Rules, 2001
     amending certain provisions of Punjab Financial Vol.I Rules
  G 2001 providing inter alia that in regard to the date of birth, a
     declaration of age made at the time of, or for the purpose of
     entry into Government service, shall as against the Government
     employee, be deemed to be conclusive unless he applies for
     correction of age as recorded within two years from date of his
    ,entry into Government service and when such an application
 H
    NARINDER KAUR v. PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH                     537
               . COURT & ORS.
 is made a special inquiry shall be made to ascertain correct          A
 age by making reference to all available sources of information
 such as certified copies of entries in the municipal birth
 register, university or school certificate indicating age, Janam
 Patrika, horoscopes etc. ·
                                                                       B
      The appellant realising that her date of birth was wrongly
 recorded in the birth certificate, as 26.1.1971 made an
 application dated 12.4.2002 i.e. within two years from the date
 of her entry into Government service, requesting the authority
 concerned to change her date of birth from 26.1.1971 to               C
 9.1.1972. By communicating a non-speaking order dated
 12.5.2002, the appellant was informed by the Registrar of
 Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh that the
 representation made by her seeking change in her date of birth
 was rejected by the High Court.
                                                                       D
     Feeling aggrieved, the appellar.i filed CWP No.16151 of
 2003 before the High Court. The High court by the impugned
 judgment has dismissed the petition giving rise to the present
 appeal.
                                                                       E
      This Court has heard the learned counsel for the parties
  and considered the documents forming part of the instant
  appeal.

         The main reason assigned by the High Court for
   dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant is that the     F
• appellant had failed to show satlsfactorily that she had not taken
   any advantage of th~ recorded date of birth. It was further held
   by the High Court that the appellant belonged to a mature class
   and her age as declared in the application Form for selection
   must have influenced the mind of the Selection Committee and,       G
   therefore, the principle of estoppel would apply to the facts of
   the case. The High Court also held that notification dated
   13.8.2001 is discretionary in nature and the appellant is not
 . entitled to change in her birth date on the basis of the said
   notification.                                                       H
    538     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                   [2011) 2 S.C.R.

A       It may be mentioned that the State of Punjab and Punjab
  and Haryana High Court had filed reply affidavit before the High
  Court. However, no material was produced on the record of the
  case to show that the appellant had taken undue advantage of
  the recorded date of birth. The proceedings relating to the
B selection of the appellant as Civil Judge never formed part of
  the instant case and, therefore, it was preposterous on the part
  of the High Court to assume that the learned High Court
  Judges who were members of the Selection Committee while
  selecting the appellant as Civil Judge (J.D.) must have been
c influenced by the age of the appellant as declared by her in the
  application form for selection. The record does not indicate that
  after receipt of the application from the appellant regarding
  change of her birth date, any inquiry, much less a special inquiry
  as contemplated by.amended Rules of 2001 was undertaken
D by the High Court. It is true that the amended Rules of 2001
  are discretionary in nature but that fact by itself does not justify
  the High Court on its administrative side to ignore them
  altogether and then to come to the conclusion that on the basis
  of the discretionary rules, the appellant is not entitled to claim
E change in her date of birth.

       In the present appeal, Dr. J. P. Singh, Director, Health &
  Family Welfare-cum-Chief Registrar, Births & Deaths, Punjab
  has filed an affidavit on 26.8.2010 mentioning that as per the
  record maintained by the office of Local Registrar, Births &
F Deaths, Municipal Council, Rajpura, Tehsil Rajpura, Distt.
  Patiala, Punjab, the entry of the birth of the appellant is recorded
  with particulars as Annual Sr. No.10, Date of Registration
  11.1.1972, Date of Birth 9.1.1972. Thus, the State of Punjab ·
  has now admitted in this affidavit that the correct"Clate of birth
G of the appellant as per births and deaths record was 9.1.1972.
  The contents of the affidavit filed by Dr. J. P. Singh, Director,
  Health & Family Welfare-cum-Chief Registrar, Births & Deaths,
  Punjab are not disputed or controverted in any manner by the
  Punjab and Haryana High Court.
H
  NARINDER KAUR v. PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH                  539
              COURT & ORS.
    In view of the presumtive value which attachs to the birth   A
and death records, this Court is of the opinion that appeal
deserves to be allowed.

      For the foregoing reasons, the appeal succeeds. The
judgment dated 20A.2006 rendered by Division Bench of the B
High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in CWP No.
161S1 of 2003, is hereby set aside. CWP No. 16151 of 2003
filed by the appellant in the High Court is allowed. The order
dated 12.5.2002 passed by Punjab and Haryana High court on
its Administrative side rejecting the application dated 12.4.2002 C
 made by the appellant to the High Court with a request to
 change her date of birth from 26.1.1971 to 9.1.1972 is also set
 aside. The application dated 12.4.2002 made by the appellant
 to the High Court to change her date of birth from 26.1.1971
 to 9.1.1972 stands allowed. Both the respondents are hereby
 directed to carry out necessary changes in service record of D
 the appellant by mentioning her date of birth to be 9.1.1972.
 The appeal accordingly stands disposed of.

N,J.                                     Appeal disposed of.