' MUHAMMAD ILYAS LODHI (MEMBER).---The appellant Muhammad Nawaz Khan, Superintending Engineer, Swabi, SCARP, Circle II, WAPDA, Mardan has come in appeal against the impugned order dated 20-9-1994 which reads as under:-- "According to Rule 116 of Finance Division, Government of Pakistan General Financial Rules, Vol. I (copy enclosed for ready reference) date of birth once recorded cannot be altered, except in case of a clerical mistake, without previous orders of the local administratiop.
' The officer may please be informed accordingly."
' The appellant submitted a departmental appeal on 24-7-1994 which was rejected on 20-9-1994 and conveyed to the appellant on 4-10-1994. He came to the Tribunal with the present appeal under section 4 of the Service Tribunals Act, 1973 on 27-10-1994 for change of date of birth as 16-1- 1938 instead of 20-3-1935.
2. The case of the appellant in a nutshell is that at the time of his admission in the school the father of the appellant got entered the date of birth of the appellant as 20-3-1935 by mistake. The said date was also recorded in his Matriculation Certificate which was issued by the Controller of Examinations, Peshawar University, Peshawar (respondent No, 3). When this mistake came to the knowledge of the appellant he approached respondent No, 3 for correction of date of birth on the Matriculation Certificate but his request was not acceded to. He accordingly filed a civil suit in the Court of Senior Civil Judge, Peshawar which was decided on 21-7-1993 in favour of the appellant and decree was issued that the correct date of the appellant was 16-1-1938 and not 20-3-1935. In consequence of decree of the Court, the appellant requested respondent No, 3 for issuing a duplicate Matriculation Certificate for change of date of birth on the Certificate and he accordingly issued a duplicate Matriculate Certificate in which the date of birth was recorded as 16-1-1938 after getting the approval of Syndicate. Thereafter, the appellant requested his department for change of date of birth in his service record but the same was turned down.
3. The case of the respondents, on the other hand, is that the date of birth once entered in the school cannot be changed or altered. Therefore, the appellant has no right to get the date changed which has already been recorded in his service record except in the case of a clerical error, without the previous orders of the Local Administration.
4. We have examined the record and also perused the relevant documents. The Senior Civil Judge, Peshawar had also passed a decree in favour of the appellant and on the basis of that decision, respondent No, 3, Peshawar University issued a duplicate Matriculation Certificate. The departmental representative of Peshawar University has also stated that correct date of birth by the University has always been honoured by the agencies concerned Old the Court. The appellant has also cited two cases of M/s. Rashid Ahmad, General Manager (Water), WAPDA and Abdul Qadir, Project Director wherein the date of birth was corrected of both the officers by WAPDA/respondents. We do not understand why this facility has been denied to the appellant. This is a discriminatory treatment which is bad in law and against the norms of justice. Their contention that as per rule the date of birth is corrected only when there is clerical mistake is vague and evasive as it does not clarify that at what stage it is taken as clerical mistake whether at the time of entry of service in WAPDA or at the time of passing of Matriculation examination or at the time of first entry in the school. We, on the basis of the Civil Court decree, the change in the record of University and also keeping in view the above two cases, accept the appeal, set aside the impugned order dated 20-9-1994 and direct the respondents to correct the appellant's date of birth as 16-1-1938. No order is made for costs.