ORDER :

Heard the learned Counsel for the Petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondent.

2. The Petitioner filed this petition seeking Writ of Mandamus with prayer is as follows :

“declaring the impugned action of the respondents in correcting the petitioners date of birth as 15.03.1963 from 01.06.1968 in the petitioner service record as illegal arbitrary and in violation of Articles of 14 16 and 21 of Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents to continue the petitioner in service till 30.06.2026 on which date the petitioner would be reaching the superannuation age of 58 years along with all consequential benefits in the interests of justice and fair play”.

3. The case of the petitioner, in brief, is as follows :

(a) The petitioner had been selected as Driver in the 1st Respondent organisation and has been working as driver since 15.03.1991 and the services of the petitioner were regularised on 01.04.1994 but the number of working days in Suryapet, Tandur and Ibrahimpatnam depots were considered thereby delaying the regularisation of the petitioner.

(b) The petitioner’s date of birth as borne in Transfer Certificate is 01.06.1968 and the same has been recorded in petitioner’s service record and all other forms submitted, which were certified by the concerned officer. Even the Employment Card registered vide registration no. R1/88715691, the date of birth of the petitioner is recorded as 01.06.1968.

(c) Without any notice or without any valid reasons, the date of birth of the petitioner has been changed from 01.06.1968 to 15.03.1963 in the P.F. Slips issued for the year 2017-2018 and hence the petitioner made a representation to the 2nd respondent requesting to correct the date of birth as 01.06.1968 but to no avail.

(d) The Petitioner then made a representation to the 3rd respondent dated 27.07.2018 under the Right to Information Act but no reply had been received and hence the Petitioner made another representation on 06.12.2018 and the 3rd respondent furnished a reply through his letter dated 10.12.2018.

(e) Apart from the letter and other documents, Service record has also been furnished and upon perusal, petitioner has observed that the date of birth of the petitioner has been changed from 01.06.1968 to 15.03.1963 by following the Medical Certificate dtd15.03.1991. The Medical Officer has examined the petitioner in respect of physical fitness and not in respect of age proof as per the records in Service Certificate.

(f) The Respondents, having accepted the petitioner’s date of birth as 01.06.1968 without any dispute for more than 25 years and changing the same without any intimation is illegal and without jurisdiction. The competent authority overseeing such changes is the 1st respondent and the Service record submitted by the respondents changing the date of birth of the petitioner has not been signed by the competent authority (i.e., 1st respondent herein). 1st respondent has been employing such illegal and unfair labour methods to terminate/eliminate senior employees like the petitioner, so as to avoid paying of salaries.

(g) Since there was no reply to the representation dated 30.05.2018 of the petitioner by the 2nd respondent, petitioner got issued a notice through advocate dated 11.01.2019 bringing all the above facts and requesting to continue the petitioner till the petitioner had reached the age of superannuation i.e., 30.06.2026, for which there was no reply from the respondents and if the same is not considered, the petitioner would be retired five years earlier than the original service. Hence, the Writ Petition is filed.

4. Counter Affidavit filed by the Respondents, paras No.5, 7 and 9 read as under :

“5. With regard to the averments made in Para-4 to 7 of the affidavit, it is submitted that at time of submission of application for the post of Drivers the Petitioner did not submit any educational qualification. It is. specifically denied that the Petitioner submitted