Professor Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Government College, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi, has filed this appeal under section 4 of the Punjab Service Tribunal Act, 1974, in which he has impleaded the Secretary, Education Department of the Punjab, Lahore, Director, Public Instruction, Education Department Government of the Punjab, Lahore and Director of Education, Rawalpindi Division, Rawalpindi, as respondents.
2. By virtue of this appeal he has prayed that notification dated 24-10-1984 regarding the retirement of appellant on 3-6-1985 be set aside.
3. Brief facts of the case are that the appellant joined service with the Education Department while he was basically an Army Personnel right uptill 29-1-1950. According to the discharge certificate his date of birth was shown as 1-6-1926. However, when he joined the Education Department his date of birth was recorded as 3-6-1925 on the strength of Matriculation Certificate. The appellant has served with the Education Department during all these years and on reaching the age of superannuation on 3-6-1985, a notification has been issued on 24-10-1984, regarding retirement of the appellant on the above date, which notification has now been challenged by the appellant as being without justification, as well illegal and ultra vires.
4. When this case came before this Tribunal' at the stage of preliminary hearing, this Tribunal was pleased to call for report of the Department in order to settle the controversy about. The date of birth of the appellant. The report has been received and has been perused carefully vis-a-vis the claim of the appellant so made before this Tribunal.
5. I have gone through the record of this case with the assistance of the learned District Attorney as this record was brought by the representative of the Education Department who was holding the rank of Section Officer. After considering all the pros and cons of this case, the fact remains that in Matriculation Certificate the date of birth of the appellant given is 3-6-1925. However, it is also on record that when the appellant was serving in the Army, the discharge certificate discloses that his date of birth was 1-6-1926. It is also on record P.C.-1046, Annexure 'D' that the Army Authorities scored out the date of birth 3-6-1925 as given in the Matriculation Certificate and changed it to 1- 6-1926, in the service record. In view of these two documents, the appellant relied on the judgment of my lord Justice Nasim Hasan Shah, while he was a Judge of Lahore High Court now Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in which it was held that while deciding the issue of birth of a civil servant the Department should not only rely on the Matriculation Certificate but was under obligation to look into the other documents, if produced by a civil servant before it, like Primary School Certificate, Birth Certificate or Matriculation Certificate and then come to a positive conclusion. According to his Lordship, if after taking into consideration the evidence so produced by the civil servant, the ultimate decision of the authority would be unexceptionable. In view of this authoritative pronouncement so relied upon by the appellant I looked into the evidence so indicated above. The appellant only reliance for his case is on the strength of Service Book maintained by the Army Authorities in which the date of birth given in the Matriculation Certificate has been scored and changed according to their own decision.
6. I have seen the discharge certificate also but it does not contain the exact date of birth. The Letter No. 0127/136/A-4, dated 30-8-1962, issued by the Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Defence to the Chief Administrative Officer, Rawalpindi, only contains the sanction for the counting of Military Service from 1-6-1946 to 29-1-1950 towards civil pension. It does not contain anything to prove the date of birth of the appellant as 1-6-1926 and in the light of Government decision contained in its Letter No. 1616-SO(SR) IV/73(A), dated 24-9-19731 such like entries on the basis of discharge certificate are to be ignored.
7. During the course of arguments the appellant was confronted with the declaration duly signed by him for the grant of G.P. Fund in which he had himself admitted his date of birth as 3-6-1925 and date of retirement as 3-6-1985. The only plea advanced by him was that the same was obtained from him under coersion. However, he was not in a position to show any documentary evidence or otherwise by any other evidence of important nature that such document was signed by him under duress. This being the situation the Policy letter of the Government which makes it obligatory to a civil servant to get his date of birth corrected within 2 years, would prevail. This Tribunal has settled this law point in case of Munshi Khan v. I.-G.P., Punjab. In these circumstances, it is not possible for this Tribunal to accept the date of birth of the appellant as 1-6-1926, against the authentic document of Matriculation Certificate which contains the date of birth as 3-6-1925, particularly, in the absence of any additional evidence in the form of birth certificate, Primary School Certificate of medical certificate.
8. The result is, I do not find any exception to the decision of the respondents taken on the advice of the Regulation Wing of the Services, General Administration and Information Department and proceed to dismiss the appeal in limine, as being without any merit.
A. E. revisions by the competent authorities. Therefore, it is advisable to consult the official sources or legal professionals for the most up-to-date and accurate information.