Govt reiterates instructions on alteration of date of birth; names 3 conditions

THE government last week reiterated instructions about alteration of date of birth of a government servant. In fact, the date of birth declared by the government servant and accepted by the appropriate authority shall not be subject to any alteration except in rare circumstances. An alteration of date of birth of a government servant can be made with the sanction of the ministry concerned, if…
(i) a request in this regard is made within five years of his entry into government service;
(ii) it is clearly established that a genuine bona-fide mistake has occurred; and
(iii) the date of birth so altered would not make him ineligible to appear in any school or university of Union Public Service Commission examination in which he had appeared, or for entry into government service on the date on which he first appeared at such examination or on the date on which he entered government service.
The office memorandum dated December 16, 2014 also included a Supreme Court Judgement of 1993. In a case between Union of India Vs. Harnam Singh, SC on February 9, 1993 had observed: “Inordinate and unexplained delay or laches on the part of the respondent to seek the necessary correction would in any case have justified the refusal of relief to him. His inaction for all this period of about thirty five years from the date of joining service, therefore precludes him from showing that the entry of his date of birth in service record was not correct”.
The date of birth document is important as the retirement of a government servant depends on that. Earlier, former Army chief and current Union minister Gen (retired) VK Singh was embroiled into a major row over his date of birth.
In fact, a government servant retires from service on the afternoon of the last day of the month in which he attains the age of sixty years. But in case, the date of birth of the employee is the first of a month, he or she will retire from service on the afternoon of the last day of the preceding month on attaining the age of sixty years. According to Note 6 of Rule 56 of Fundamental Rules, the date of retirement is determined with reference to the date of birth declared by the government servant at the time of appointment and accepted by the appropriate authority on production, as far as possible, of confirmatory documentary evidence such as high school or higher secondary or secondary school certificate or extracts from birth register.