OD-2 ORDER SHEET WPO/1018/2023 IA NO.GA/1/2025 IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction ORIGINAL SIDE AJAY KUMAR SINGH Versus THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ORS.

BEFORE:

The Hon’ble JUSTICE PARTHA SARATHI CHATTERJEE Date : September 18, 2025.

Appearance Mr. Debdutta Basu, Adv.

…for the petitioner Ms. Niladri Bhattacharjee, Adv.

Ms. Deblina Chattaraj, Adv.

Ms. Poulami Chattopadhyay, Adv.

..for the respondent The Court: The present writ petition has been filed seeking the issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the concerned respondents to rectify the petitioner’s date of birth in the official service records from 8th September, 1965 to 2nd January, 1967, and to consequently release all service-related benefits accruing therefrom.

Mr. Basu, learned Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner, submits that the petitioner was appointed to the post of Cleaner on compassionate grounds following the death-in-harness of his father, who was an employee of the Calcutta Tramways Company Limited. He further submits that the petitioner was subsequently promoted to the post of Bus Conductor and has, since then, been discharging his duties in that capacity without any blemish.

He further submits that in the year 2003, it was discovered by the respondents themselves that, in a number of cases, the dates of birth recorded in the service records of employees were incorrect. Consequently, the respondents deemed it necessary to constitute a committee, which was duly formed and vested with the authority to review the service records of the staff and to submit its report. It is submitted that pursuant to such review, the petitioner’s date of birth was corrected, and his correct date, 7 January 1967, was recorded in the service records available with the respondents at that time. An identity card was also issued to the petitioner reflecting the said corrected date of birth. However, the petitioner was later informed by the respondents that he is scheduled to retire on 30 September 2025 Faced with the aforesaid situation, the petitioner filed a writ petition being WPO/27/2023. However, during the pendency of the said writ petition, the petitioner was directed to appear before the Medical Board. Taking note of this development, the petitioner was permitted to withdraw the earlier writ petition, with liberty to file a fresh petition on the selfsame cause of action incorporating the subsequent developments. Accordingly, the present writ petition has been filed Drawing my attention to page 24 of the writ petition, Mr. Basu submits that in a similar case, the date of birth of a co-employee of the petitioner was corrected, and consequential service benefits were extended to him on the basis of his school leaving certificate. He contends that the denial of similar treatment to the petitioner amounts to hostile discrimination. Accordingly, he prays for a direction upon the respondents to rectify the petitioner’s date of birth in the service records and to release all consequential service-related benefits in his favour on the basis of the corrected date of birth.

In rebuttal, Ms. Chattaraj, learned Advocate appearing for the respondents, vehemently opposes the contentions advanced by Mr. Basu. She submits that the identity card relied upon by the petitioner appears to have been tampered with, an alteration that is visibly noticeable upon plain examination. She points out that the numerical digits '2' and '7' appear to have been manipulated, having originally been '8' and '5' respectively.

She further submits that upon receiving an application from the petitioner, a committee was constituted, and the petitioner was directed to appear before the said committee as well as the Medical Board. However, the petitioner failed to appear before the Medical Board and did not extend proper cooperation to the committee members to enable them to reach a conclusive determination regarding his actual date of birth. Notably, the petitioner could not even recall