Other officers too sought change of date of birth,without success

As per All India Service Rules,“The Date of Birth,as accepted by the Central Government,shall not be subject to any alteration except where it is established that a bona fide clerical mistake has been committed.”

Documents with The Indian Express,obtained through RTI,show that IPS officer from Punjab Varinder Kumar wanted his date of birth changed to September 16,1966,from July 26,1965.

Having tried official channels,he finally approached MP Manish Tewari,requesting him to take up his case with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. The Congress spokesperson passed on the request,asking that Kumar’s claim be considered sympathetically.

In July 2009,Chidambaram wrote to Tiwari,saying the matter “was examined in the light of statutory provisions of the relavant rules/regulations on the subject. The request of the officer could not be accorded to as it was not covered under the rules.”

Kumar then appealed to the President of India,who forwarded it to the Home Ministry for an appropriate decision. The ministry reiterated its earlier decision.

Another officer who wanted his date of birth changed is K L Prasad,a 1982-batch Maharashtra-cadre IPS officer. While the Maharashtra government cleared the change — from April 5,1955,to April 15,1956 — the Department of Personnel and Training rejected the same when the file came to it.

The case of another Maharashtra-cadre IPS officer,S S Salunke,is under the DoPT scanner. The state government had rejected Salunke’s application to change his date of birth from May 2,1956,to September 1960 (he didn’t specify the date),and it is now being reviewed by the department.

R K Khandelwal,an IPS officer of 1953 batch,was handling a sensitive position at the Intelligence Bureau when he claimed an “error” in his date of birth just a few months before his retirement. He sought a minor change to November 19,1929,from May 5,1929,saying: “I had my janmapatri (horoscope),which helped me trace municipal records about the place and date of my birth.”

The Home Ministry,however,felt the authenticity of the new date couldn’t be established. Khandelwal retired in 1987.

The other IPS officers to have requested a correction in their date of birth include Srinivasa Reddy,H N Nagarale and M Ramchandran. The officers have now moved the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and high courts,praying for relief.

The ministry is still considering the case of Tamil Nadu IPS officer S Rajendran. According to the officer,“my father was illiterate and wrongly entered my DoB… as January 15,1956,instead of January 15,1959.”

Kelhousithie Kire,a 1979-batch IPS officer who retired as DGP of Nagaland in December 2011,had requested a change to December 16,1953,from December 16,1951. The officer claimed this happened due to a clerical error.