ISWARLAL MOHANLAL THAKKAR versus PASCHIM GUJARAT VIJ COMPANY LTD. & ANR.

Citation: [2014] 4 S.C.R. 858 · Decided: 16-04-2014 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: GYAN SUDHA MISRA · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Judgment (excerpt)

A 
B 
[2014] 4 S.C.R 858 
ISWARLAL MOHANLAL THAKKAR 
v. 
PASCHIM GUJARAT VIJ COMPANY LTD. & ANR. 
(Civil Appeal No. 4558 of 2014) 
APRIL 16, 2014 
[GYAN SUDHA MISHRA AND V. GOPALA GOWDA, JJ.) 
Service law: Service records - Date of birth - Application 
for change of date of birth on the basis of birth certificate 
C issued by Municipal Corporation -
Respondent-Employer 
rejected application and relied upon the School Leaving 
Certificate and thereby retired the employee - Labour court 
set aside the said order holding that employer ought to have 
not relied on the School Leaving Certificate since as per 
o certificate issued by school to the brother of the appellant, the 
difference between appellant and his brother was only 5 
months and that was improbable and impossible - Writ 
petition u!Art.227 - High Court set aside the order of labour 
court - On appeal, held: Respondent-board ought not to have 
E relied upon the School Leaving Certificate and instead, the 
birth certificate issued by the Municipal Corporation should 
have been relied upon - High Court wrongly held that the 
appellant was estopped from raising the issue of his date of 
birth since he had signed the records in 1978 but raised this 
F issue only in 1987 - This is also clear from the circular issued 
by respondent in 1987 to the effect that those employees who 
wished to change their date of birth in the records may do so 
by furnishing the necessary birth certificate and further, they 
can do it before they become 50 years of age - The appellant 
had not attained 50 years of age at the time he raised the 
G issue of mistake of his date of birth - High Court did not apply 
its mind in setting aside the award of the labour court in 
exercise of its power of judicial review and superintendence -
Therefore, impugned judgment and order of the High Court 
H 
858 
ISWARLAL MOHANLAL THAKKAR v. PASCHIM GUJARAT 859 
VIJ COMPANY LTD. 
set aside and the award of the labour court restored -
A 
Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 227. 
Constitution of India, 1950: Article 227 - Scope of- Held: 
High Court cannot exercise its power u/Article 227 as an 
appellate court or re-appreciate evidence and record its 
B 
findings on the contentious points - Only if there is a serious 
error of law or the findings recorded suffer from error apparent 
on record, can the High Court quash the order of a lower court 
- Service law .. 
Evidence Act, 1872: s.35 - Birth certificate issued by the 
C 
Municipal Corporation -
Evidentiary value of - Held: Birth 
certificate issued by the municipal corporation is a conclusive 
proof of age, the same being an entry in the public record as 
per s.35 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 - Service law. 
D 
The appellant was the employee of the erstwhile 
Bhavnagar Electricity Company Ltd. which was taken 
over by the respondent-board and the appellant was 
appointed afresh as per the agreement in 1978. The 
appellant gave an application in the year 1987 to change 
E 
his birth date from 27 .6.1937 to 27 .6.1940 but he was 
orally informed of the rejection of his request. The 
Executive Engineer of the respondent-board addressed 
a letter to the appellant directing him to produce a school 
leaving certificate or Municipal Birth certificate as proof 
F 
and stated that in the absence of production of the 
required documents, the date of birth recorded in the 
service book would be final. The appellant's elder brother 
filed a criminal application wherein it was prayed that the 
Registrar of Birth and Date Records be directed to enter 
the date of birth of the appellant as 27 .6.1940 on its record 
G 
and a birth certificate be issued. The Court of the JMFC 
vide order dated 22.05.1987 directed the Bhavnagar 
Municipal Corporation (BMC) to issue a birth certificate 
to the appellant. 
H 
860 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2014] 4 S.C.R. 
A 
The birth certificate was issued by the Bhavnagar 
Municipal Corporation (BMC) wherein his date of birth 
was shown as 27.06.1940. The appellant forwarded the 
birth certificate issued by the BMC to the respondent on 
25.5.1987 and sent a reminder on 11.6.1987 to make 
B corrections in the service record with regard to his date 
of birth. He was informed by the Executive Engineer of 
the respondent-board that he has to produce his original 
school leaving certificate or SSC pass certificate in order 
to effect corrections in the service records. The Electricity 
c Board by its circular dated 28.5.1989 informed

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