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6. Aggrieved, the appellant company preferred a Letters Patent Appeal, the order in which is impugned herein. The High Court dismissed the appeal having found no merit in the same in light of the clauses in Implementation Instruction No. 76.

7. Thereafter, the matter lies before us.

4. The appellant in the present appeal has come before us seeking that the impugned judgment be set aside. The case of the appellant is, firstly, when a school leaving certificate is not a document mentioned in Implementation Instruction No. 76, the High Court was incorrect in substituting the same with the documents given in the said Instruction, thereby creating a situation which supersedes all other statutory documents like Form ‘B’ register. Secondly, the High Court should have considered that the date of birth recorded in Form ‘B’ register being a statutory document under Mines Act is binding and cannot be preceded by a non-statutory document and therefore, the inter alia holding of the High Court that School Leaving Certificate and Mining Sardar Certificate would take precedence over company records and other statutory documents is contrary to the judgment of this Court in G.M. Bharat Coking Coal Ltd., West Bengal vs. Shib Kumar Dushad and Ors.[1]. Thirdly, the appellant has challenged the exercise of jurisdiction by the High Court under Article 226 considering that the respondent as workman could avail efficacious remedy from the forum under the Industrial Disputes Act and the respondent could raise such a dispute at the fag end of his career de hors the judgment in Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. vs. Presiding Officer and Anr[2]. Fourthly, that the documents on which the respondent has relied being School Leaving Certificate and Mining Sardar Certificate are not those mentioned in Implementation Instruction No. 76 for review of determination of date of birth with respect to existing employees and that the implementation of the impugned order would give way to many unscrupulous employees to procure such documents and take advantage of the same. Fifthly, the respondent while signing the Form ‘B’ register at the time of appointment had verified his date of birth as February 15, 1947 on his joining on January 1, 1973 and later on his transfer in 1983; since he is a supervisory staff capable of reading and writing and understanding English his verification amounts to acceptance and his raising of dispute in 1987, fourteen years after is incorrect. Sixthly, the appellant has challenged the reliance placed on the School Leaving Certificate by the respondent on the grounds that the same was issued on October 12, 1979 six years after his appointment and as the Mining Sardar Certificate was based on the same reliance on it is also doubtful; furthermore, since both the documents were issued after the date of employment they cannot form basis of correction of date of birth; furthermore, the appellant has challenged the correctness of the School Leaving Certificate on the grounds that the alleged Certificate was not verified by the District Education Commissioner; that the attendance register for relevant period when the respondent allegedly attended school was not available and the verification was with respect to one Sri Birsa Prasad Uranw; it is further submitted that these discrepancies which were covered by legal inspector of company (who was duly charge- sheeted) in collusion with the respondent make the school leaving certificate dubious. Finally, it was submitted that the respondent has raised the issue at the fag end by means of a belated writ i.e. thirty years after appointment and after twenty years (as claimed by him) of his knowledge.