1. Heard Mr. HK Das, the learned counsel appearing for the writ petitioner. The respondent who was the applicant before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), is represented by the learned Advocate Mr. I. Hussain.

2. The respondent joined service in the Railways initially as a casual lineman on 16.6.1982 but after he qualified in the trade test, he was absorbed as a Lineman Gr.III, through the order dated 12.12.1988 (page 27). The issue here relates to the date of birth of the respondent and he contends that his correct date of birth is 19.2.1956 but in the Service Book, maintained by the Railways, the birth date was wrongly recorded as 21.2.1955.

3. The first representation for correction of the date of birth was made by the respondent on 5.12.2012 but this was rejected on 12.12.2012, on the ground that such belated application for alteration of date of birth can’t be considered. Two years later, just on the eve of superannuation, the respondent re-applied on 26.2.2014 for correction of his birth date but this representation too was rejected by the Railways on 10.4.2014 by reiteration of the earlier decision.

4. On the basis of the date of birth recorded in the service book, the

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