The credibility of documentary evidence submitted for the alteration of official records and the requirement to secure alteration in scholastic records before seeking alteration in service records.

NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J.

This writ petition is instituted by an Assistant working in Judicial Magistrate Court No.2, Pollachi, Coimbatore District, seeking a Writ of Mandamus to correct the date of birth of the petitioner in his service record as 04.10.1965 instead of 04.10.1961 within a stipulated time.

2. Heard Sri. T.P. Prabakaran, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri. M. Baskar, learned counsel, who accepted notice on behalf of the respondent.

3. It appears that the writ petitioner passed S.S.L.C. public examination held in March 1980. He studied the said course as a regular student at the Government High School, Mudis. Upon his passing the said examination, a Secondary School Leaving Certificate was issued by the Board of Secondary Education, Tamil Nadu. His date of birth in the said certificate was recorded as 04.10.1961. Thereafter, he pursued Higher Secondary course from the Government Higher Secondary School, Sankarankovil. He appeared for the examination held in April 1982 and passed the said examination. In that certificate also, his date of birth was recorded as 04.10.1961.

4. The writ petitioner seems to have enrolled his name with the local Employment Exchange and upon being sponsored, he came to be appointed on 24.2.2011 by the Principal District Judge, Coimbatore on temporary basis as an Examiner in Category 6 Class IV of the Tamil Nadu Judicial Ministerial Service and he was posted as Examiner in the District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate Court, Valparai against an existing vacancy. That is how he gained entry into the Tamil Nadu Judicial Ministerial Service on temporary basis on 24.2.2011.

5. Soon thereafter, he approached the Tahsildar, Sankarankovil and filed an application on 10.7.2012 for making an entry in the records maintained relating to registration of births and deaths, requiring his date of birth to be recorded therein as 04.10.1965. Though the said application has been made 47 years after his birth, but, nonetheless, the Tahsildar, Sankarankovil obliged him by entertaining such application dated 10.7.2012 and made an entry in the Register of births that the writ petitioner was born on 04.10.1965 at Perumalpatti, Narikkudi to one Duraipandian and Kaniammal. After recording the said date of birth in the Register, the Tahsildar, Sankarankovil has also issued him the necessary certificate/Extract of entry from the Register on the same date namely 10.7.2012. Based on this certificate/Extract dated 10.7.2012, the petitioner has drawn a representation on 30.1.2013 seeking alteration of his date of birth in his service record as 04.10.1965 as per the birth certificate enclosed thereto instead of 04.10.1961. It is in this backdrop the present writ petition came to be instituted.

6. We are of the opinion that the request made by the petitioner for alteration of the entry relating to his date of birth in his service record cannot be considered for the following reasons :

(i) The writ petitioner appeared for the S.S.L.C. examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Tamil Nadu, in March 1980 and after having passed the said examination, he has been issued a certificate recording therein his date of birth as 04.10.1961. The said certificate bears the signature of the writ petitioner.

(ii) He also appeared for the Higher Secondary examination conducted in April 1982 and in the pass certificate also, his date of birth is recorded as 04.10.1961 and this certificate also bears the signature of the writ petitioner. Though he is a young person at the time when he passed the S.S.L.C. and Higher Secondary examinations, but, nonetheless, it must be inferred that it is within his knowledge that the certificates bear his date of birth as 04.10.1961.

(iii) So far, no attempt appears to have been made to get the date of birth entered in the above referred two certificates altered. Consequently, the scholastic record of the writ petitioner still reflects the date of birth of the writ petitioner as 04.10.19