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2. Subsequently, in 1983, he was transferred to the Jamunia Open Cast Project and as stated, he once again signed the Form ‘B’ wherein his date of birth was recorded as February 15, 1947 and he allegedly did not raise any objections then.

3. In 1986, the respondent passed the Mining Sardarship and in the certificate acknowledging the same his date of birth was recorded as February 6, 1950, corresponding to the date recorded in the aforementioned School Leaving Certificate. Therefore, there existed two sets of records of the respondent’s details; first being the Form ‘B’ register on one hand in which the date of birth was recorded to be February 15, 1947 and second being the Mining Sardar Certificate and the School Leaving Certificate wherein the date of birth was recorded as February 6, 1950.

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.

6. In these circumstances, the respondent has contended, firstly, that it is not the case that the respondent disputed date of birth at the end of service, instead he had disputed the same way back in the year 1987, it is the employer who disputed the same at the fag end by creating the impression that claim of respondent for correction of date of birth was accepted when, in reality, it was not and even the learned Single Judge has concurred that the rectification was not sought at the fag end. Secondly, it was contended that the respondent has relied on two documents for correction of his date of birth as February 6, 1950, namely the statutory Mining Sardar Certificate and the School Leaving Certificate. Thirdly, it has been contended that in light of the policy contained in part (B) of Implementation Instruction No. 76, the appellant as per clause (i)(a) accepted the School Leaving Certificate but it was contended before the High Court that as the same was issued in 1979 and as the workman joined service in 1979, the certificate was thus, ‘not issued’ prior to the date of employment and therefore cannot form the basis of correction of date of birth. However, this contention was rejected by the High Court, which held that the school records were created prior to joining and a copy issued on a subsequent date does not create a difference as the date of issue of certificate refers to the date when the relevant record was created on the basis of which the certificate has been issued. In addition to the same, it has also been submitted that the appellate court had granted time to the appellant to verify the genuineness of the School Leaving Certificate and in response through a supplementary affidavit, the appellants have admitted the school leaving certificate to be genuine, thus contended by the respondent that as the School Leaving Certificate was found to be genuine, it warrants no interference. Fourthly, it has been contended by the respondent that his claim for correction was not considered on the basis of the Mining Sardar Certificate which as claimed has been given by the Central Government and was submitted by him, which is also mentioned as a basis for correction of date of birth in Clause (i)(b) in Part B of Implementation Instruction No. 76. It is further submitted that the appellant did not give any reason as to why the Mining Sardar Certificate was rejected by them. Finally, the respondent has submitted that he was made to retire prematurely and not allowed to work inspite of favourable orders from the High Court; furthermore, the respondent filed a contempt petition but was not allowed to work by the petitioners on the pretext of pendency of matter before higher courts. It is also the case of the respondent that he was not gainfully employed anywhere else during that period.

14. As noted by us, the respondent in 1987 on coming to know of the wrong recording of his date of birth in his service records from the nomination form sought rectification. Therefore, such rectification was not sought at the fag end of his service. We have further noticed that the High Court duly verified the genuineness of the school leaving certificate on the basis of a supplementary affidavit filed by Shri Dilip Kumar Mishra, legal inspector of the appellant company on September 6, 2010 before the High Court. It has been admitted in the said supplementary affidavit that the school leaving certificate has been verified and has been found to be genuine. We have further noticed that Implementation Instruction No.76 clause (i)(a) permits rectification of the date of birth by treating the date of birth mentioned in the school leaving certificate to be correct provided such certificates were issued by the educational institution prior to the date of employment. The question of interpreting the words ‘were issued’ was correctly interpreted, in our opinion, by the High Court which interpreted the said words for the purpose of safeguarding against misuse of the certificates for the purpose of increasing the period of employment. The High Court correctly interpreted and meant that these words will not apply where the school records containing the date of birth were available long before the starting of the employment. The date of issue of certificate actually intends to refer to the date with the relevant record in the school on the basis of which the certificate has been issued. A school leaving certificate is usually issued at the time of leaving the school by the student, subsequently a copy thereof also can be obtained where a student misplaces his said school leaving certificate and applies for a fresh copy thereof. The issuance of fresh copy cannot change the relevant record which is prevailing in the records of the school from the date of the admission and birth date of the student, duly entered in the records of the school