ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has held that a person is not allowed at a later stage, in any suit or proceedings, to deny or resile from the truth he has declared about himself and made it believe to be correct.

“In fact this principle is established on equity and fair-mindedness with the sole intention to nip in the bud the element of fraud and deception in order to ensure justice,” Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar observed in a service matter.

He was part of a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and also comprising Justice Aminud Din Khan, which had taken up an appeal of Ali Bux Shaikh against the dismissal of his plea by the Sindh Service Tribunal, Karachi, on Sept 21, 2020.

Since the petitioner himself had disclosed his correct date of birth in a previous case filed in the apex court, at this stage he could not contradict or belie his correct date of birth or resile from his own admission, Justice Mazhar declared.

The petitioner was appointed assistant superintendent of jail (BS-14) in 1990 and according to him, his date of birth was recorded as Jan 1, 1961 in the Service Book but in the provisional seniority list, his date of birth was shown as Jan 1, 1958. Mr Shaikh filed a departmental appeal before the home department. But a notification was issued setting Dec 31, 2017 as his retirement date.

He also submitted his grievance to a minister concerned and according to him, law department’s opinion was sought. Thereafter, th notification was withdrawn in 2019. However, the home secretary through, in 2020, again kept the notification in abeyance.

His subsequent service appeal before a tribunal was also not acceded to.

The main contention of the petitioner was that under Rule 12-A of the Sindh Civil Servants (Appointments, Promotion and Transfer) Rules 1974, the date of birth once recorded by a civil servant at the time of joining government service will be final and no alteration is permissible.

“There is no disbelief or reservation to the niceties of this rule,” the judgment stated, but at the same time, this rule did not prohibit or restrain the competent authority from inquiring into cases where, on the face of it, certain interpolations were made by the civil servant in the service book, or where he provided wrong date in the service record.

In such a case, obviously, the correction may be made after due satisfaction and inquiry, the SC declared, adding that each case had to be decided on its own facts and circumstances.

The actual date of birth was verified in the present case and proved beyond a reasonable doubt and after due diligence and satisfaction.

The decision also recalled that to verify the truthfulness of the petitioner’s claim, the tribunal also summoned the original general register from the primary school in which the petitioner was admitted, but the leaf containing his name and date of birth was found torn by using the tape solution and no other page was found in such condition.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2022