Shimla, August 19, 2025: The Himachal Pradesh High Court has dismissed a Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) filed by a government employee, Satya, seeking correction of her date of birth in service records, ruling that the request was made after an “inordinate and unjustifiable delay.”
A division bench comprising Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma upheld the earlier order of a single judge, who had rejected Satya’s plea for correction of her date of birth from January 6, 1969, to October 24, 1969, on the basis of entries in the Pariwar Register.
The court observed that although the petitioner claimed to have filed a representation in 2002, there was no evidence to support that claim, and the first traceable representation was only in 2017—17 years after her appointment as a Junior Engineer in the Jal Shakti Vibhag in April 2000.
The judges held that under Clause 7.1 of Chapter VII of the Himachal Pradesh Financial Rules, 1971, such corrections must be sought within two years of entering government service.
“The request for correction of date of birth at the fag end of service cannot be entertained,” the bench said, citing multiple Supreme Court rulings including Union of India vs. Harnam Singh (1993) and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. vs. Shyam Kishore Singh (2020).
The court also noted that Satya had earlier obtained a civil court decree in 2015 declaring her correct date of birth as October 24, 1969, but since the employer was not made a party in that suit, the decree could not be enforced against the department.
Rejecting the argument that the State was responsible for missing records, the bench said the petitioner herself admitted in her civil suit that she became aware of the discrepancy only in 2014, and thus could not now rely on an alleged 2002 representation.
Finding no illegality in the single judge’s order, the bench dismissed the appeal, observing:
“The application for change of date of birth was liable to be rejected on grounds of delay and laches, especially when made at the fag end of service.”
The court also dismissed all pending miscellaneous applications in the matter.