Service-book date of birth entries remain final under Rule 16A, absent a bona fide clerical mistake.

Under the substituted Rule 16A governing All India Services personnel, the date of birth recorded in the official service book remained final for officers who had entered service earlier, and the rule did not permit reopening that entry merely because a representation was made later. The only recognised exception was a bona fide clerical mistake. Where the officer had himself declared the same date of birth at entry into service, later reliance on horoscope material or a birth extract did not prove clerical error, and estoppel could bar a contrary claim. The service-book entry was therefore left unaltered and the challenge failed.

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Issues: (i) Whether a member of the All India Services who had entered service before the 1978 substitution of Rule 16A could seek alteration of the date of birth recorded in the service book. (ii) Whether the recorded date of birth could be displaced on the ground of alleged clerical mistake or later-discovered evidence.

Issue (i): Whether a member of the All India Services who had entered service before the 1978 substitution of Rule 16A could seek alteration of the date of birth recorded in the service book.

Analysis: Rule 16A, as substituted in 1978, applied to all members of the All India Services. For officers appointed before 4 December 1971, sub-rule (3) required acceptance of the date of birth recorded in the service book or other official record maintained by the Government. The earlier rule had ceased to operate, and the substituted rule governed the claim when the representation was made. The rule left no scope for a general request to reopen an already recorded date of birth.

Conclusion: The respondent was not entitled to seek alteration of the service-book entry merely because he had joined service before 1971.

Issue (ii): Whether the recorded date of birth could be displaced on the ground of alleged clerical mistake or later-discovered evidence.

Analysis: The only exception under the rule was a bona fide clerical mistake. The record showed that the respondent had himself declared the same date of birth in his application and that it was entered in the service book on that basis. A later reliance on horoscope material or a birth extract did not establish clerical error in the original recording. The Court also held that where a candidate had represented a date of birth at entry into service, the principle of estoppel could operate against a later attempt to claim a different date to obtain longer service benefits.

Conclusion: No bona fide clerical mistake was shown, and the claim for correction was rejected.

Final Conclusion: The Tribunal's direction was set aside, the date of birth remained unaltered as recorded in the service book, and the challenge to the rejection of the respondent's claim failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Under the substituted Rule 16A governing All India Services personnel, the date of birth recorded in the official service record is final, subject only to correction for a bona fide clerical mistake, and a later claim for alteration is barred when the officer had himself declared and accepted that date at entry into service.

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