Sreedharan, J.@mdashPetitioner was having his date of birth entered in the E.S.L.C. Book and the service records as 9th Makaram 1107. He wanted to have it corrected as 9th Makaram 1108. For the said purpose he filed a petition before the Commissioner for Government Examinations on 28th February 1984. The delay in filing that petition was condoned by the Government. The Commissioner after considering the entire evidence let in by the Petitioner rejected the application by his order, dated 9th September 1986. That order was challenged in appeal before the Government. By Ext. P-1 order, dated 29th November 1986 the Government allowed the appeal and ordered that the date of birth of the Petitioner in the school records will be corrected as 9th Makaram 1108. In pursuance to that order the Commissioner carried out the correction. After getting the E.S.L.C. Book and the school records corrected in the above manner the Petitioner applied to the Government by Ext. P-2, dated 1st December 1986 to correct his date of birth in the service records. Since the Government did not pass any order on Ext. P-2 he filed Ext. P-3 representation before the Hon''ble Chief Minister on 19th January 1987 for getting the date of birth in the service records changed. On 28th January 1987 he approached this Court by filing O.P. No. 759 of 1987 for a direction to the Government to pass final orders on Exts. P-2 and P-3 representations. This Court disposed of that Original Petition on the same day with a direction to the Government to pass final order within three weeks from that date. Thereafter the Petitioner filed Ext. P-5 representation before the Hon''ble Chief Minister with a copy of the judgment in O.P. No. 759 of 1987 on 2nd February 1987. The Government by Ext. P-8 order, dated 7th February 1987 dismissed the application to correct the date of birth in the service records. Hence this Original Petition.
2. A detailed counter affidavit has been filed by a Joint Secretary to Government, Public Works and Transport Department. According to the said counter affidavit the correction of date of birth in the school records will not automatically entitle the Petitioner to get the date of birth corrected in the service records. After getting the date of birth corrected in the school records when the Petitioner applied for correcting his date of birth in the service records the Government are entitled to examine the entire case as to whether the correction is to be carried out or not. When such an approach was made according to him it was found that the Petitioner was not entitled to get his date of birth corrected in the service records. That explains Ext. P-8 Government order.
3. The Petitioner as per the date of birth originally entered in the school records has completed 55 years in January 1987. So he has retired from service on 31st January 1987.
4. On 28th February 1984 he applied for getting his date of birth corrected in the school records. It was well prior to two years of his retirement. Delay in filing that petition was condoned by the Government. The entire records sought to be relied on by the Petitioner were produced before the Commissioner for Government Examinations. The Commissioner rejected his application by order, dated 9th September 1986. There-upon the Petitioner took up the matter in appeal before the Government. The Government by Ext. P-1 order reversed the decision of the Commissioner for Government Examinations and ordered the date of birth to be corrected as 9th Makaram 1108. In pursuance to that direction by the Government the Commissioner corrected the school records and the E.S.L.C. Book of the Petitioner. As per the said corrected date of birth the Petitioner will complete the age of 55 only in January 1988.
5. As stated earlier by Ext. P-1 order the Government decided to correct the date of birth of the Petitioner in the school records as 9th Makaram 1108. Immediately thereafter on 1st December 1986 the Petitioner approached the Government to have his date of birth corrected in the service records. The question now to be gone into is whether the Government after having decided to correct the Petitioner''s date of birth in the school records can refuse to carry out the correction in the service records?
6. Instruction 1 to Rule 143 of Part III Kerala Service Rules lays down the procedure for making an entry in the service book regarding the date of birth. In the case of persons who have attended a recognised school or college the school leaving certificate or an authenticated extract of the admission register of the school or college where the employee last studied is to be the basis for making the entry regarding the date of birth in the service book. Thus the school records is taken as the primary evidence regarding the date of birth to be entered in the service book. When the school records are corrected is it to be carried out in the service records as well? The statutory authority to correct the date of birth in school records is the Commissioner for Government Examinations. From his decision an appeal lies to the Government. The decision of the Government is final on the matter. If the Commissioner carries out the correction in the date of birth it may not bind the Government because the Government has got the jurisdiction to examine the correctness or otherwise of the decision of the Commissioner. So the order of the Commissioner correcting the date of birth in the school records of a Government employee will not ipso facto bind the Government. But according to me the situation is entirely different when the Government passes an order correcting the date of birth in the school records. The Government when passes such an order correcting the date of birth is bound by that order. That order can be varied by the Government only in accordance with a process known to law. Another department of the Government cannot sit in judgment over the decision allowing the correction of date of birth in the school records. Viewed in this manner I hold that when the Government in the General Education Department orders correction of the date of birth of a Government employee in his school records, the Administrative Department under which the employee works is bound by the corrected date of birth and that Department must carry out the correction in service records as well. In other words the Administrative Department cannot sit in judgment over the decision taken by the General Education Department, which alone has got the power to correct the date of birth in the school records.
7. Ext. P-1 is the order given by the General Education Department. That order was sought to be implemented by the Petitioner. On his application the Government passed Ext. P-8 order expressing a diametrically opposite view. In Ext. P-8 the Government had not referred to Ext. P-1 order. The Administrative Department in the instant case is the Public Works and Transport Department. They had found fault with the reasoning adopted by the Education Department and took an independent view in the matter. The Government must have a consistent stand on a question like this. Different departments cannot speak in different tones. Ext. P-8 appears to be an order passed reversing Ext. P-1 order. According to me the Public Works and Transport Department has no Appellate Jurisdiction over the order Ext. P-1 passed by the General Education Department. General Education Department is the one legally authorised to deal with the correction of dates of birth in school records. Its decision binds the other departments.
8. The learned Government Pleader raised yet another contention based on delay in filing the application for correcting the date of birth in service records. This is not a ground on which the Government rested its decision while passing Ext. P-8 order. Therefore I do not find any ground to countenance the said argument.
9. The view taken by me earlier is in conformity with that taken by Balagangadharan Nair, J. in O.P. No. 3024 of 1980. It has been confirmed in Writ Appeal No. 356 of 1981.
10. In view of what has been stated above I direct the Government to correct the date of birth of the Petitioner in his service records as 9th Makaram 1108 and to re-admit the Petitioner in service. This should be done as expeditiously as possible at any rate within four days from today.
The Original Petition is disposed of in the above terms.
Issue photo copy of the judgment to the Government Pleader and to the Petitioner on usual terms.
