LexM/S BHARAT COKING COAL LTD AND ORS. versus CHHOTA BIRSA URANW
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this caseJudgment (excerpt)
[2014] 4 S.C.R. 887 MIS BHARAT COKING COAL LTD AND ORS. v. CHHOTA BIRSA URANW (Civil Appeal No. 4890 of 2014) MARCH 25, 2014 [GYAN SUOHA MISRA AND PINAKI CHANDRA GHOSE, JJ.] SERVICE LAW: Date of birth - Correction of - Claim of employee to correct his date of birlh and rectify discrepancies in his service record - Declined by employer - Allowed by High Courl - Held: A B c With an aim to prevent cascading inconveniences caused by change of date of birlh, a wronged employee should not be D denied of his rights especiaJ/y when he has adhered to the procedure laid down and attempted to avoid litigation by resorting to in-house mechanisms - Public Corporations! Departments, should not benefit from their own omission of duty - In the instant case, appellant-company failed to follow E the procedure as laid down in Implementation Instruction - It was due to discrepancies which subsisted that appellants gave all its employees a chance to rectify the same - Respondent duly followed the procedure available -- Appellants are bound by their actions and their attempt to F deny claim of ,respondent on the basis of technicality is incorrect - It has been correctly determined by single Judge of High Courl that dispute was not raised at fag end of service nor on the eve of superannuation but it was raised al the earliest possible· opportunity in 1987 when respondent G became aware of the discrepancy - Order of High Court does not call for any interference. 887 H 888 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 4 S.C.R. A EVIDENCE: Date of birth - School leaving certificate - Evidentiary value of - Relevant date with regard to issuance of school leaving certificate - Held: Implementation Instruction No. 76 8 clause (i)(a) permits rectification of the date of birth by treating the date of birth mentioned in school leaving certificate to be correct provided such certificates were issued by educational institution prior to date of employment - Date of issue of certificate actually intends to refer to the date with relevant record in school on the basis of which the certificate has been C issued - A school leaving certificate is usually issued at the time of leaving school by student, subsequently a copy thereof also can be obtained where a student misplaces his said school leaving certificate and applies for a fresh' copy thereof - Issuance of fresh copy cannot change the relevant D record which is prevailing in records of the school from date of admission and date of birth of student, duly entered in records of the school. The respondent joined appellant no. 1 company on E 31.3.1973. At that time, his date of b.irth was recorded as 15.2.1947. He obtained a secondary school leaving certificate in 1979 in which his date of birth was recorded as 6.2.1950. In 1986 the respondent passed the Mining Sardarship and in the certificate acknowledging the same F his date of birth was recorded as 6.2.1950. In 1987 in the process of identifying the discrepancies and correcting the service records in terms of Implementation Instruction no. 76, the respondent specifically sought that the incorrect date of birth be corrected as mentioned in the G Mining Sardar Certificate and the School Leaving Certificate. However the same was not given effect to. The respondent subsequently made a representation on 16 .. 7.2006 for correction of his date of birth but the same was rejected on 19.7.2006. By order dated 2.8.2006, the H respondent was intimated that he was to superannuate BHARAT COKING COAL LTD. v. CHHOTA BIRSA 889 URA NW from 28.2.2007. The respondent filed a writ petition A seeking to quash the said order on the ground that his date of superannuation was incorrectly calculated by relying on the erroneous date of birth which should have been rectified as provided in the Mining Sardar Certificate and the School Leaving Certificate. The single Judge of B the High Court allowed the writ petition. The Letters Patent appeal filed by the company was dismissed. Dismissing the appeal, the court HELD: 1.1 With an aim to prevent the cascading C inconveniences caused by a change of date of birth, a wronged employee should not be denied of his rights especially when he has adhered to the procedure laid down and attempted to avoid litigation by resorting to in- house mechanisms. Public Corporations/Departments, D should not benefit from their own omission of duty. In the - instant case,
Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.