“9. We have heard the parties. It is settled law that at the fag end of career, a party cannot be allowed to raise a dispute regarding his date of birth. The case of the 1st Respondent that he had intimated the Company in 1953 itself is not believable. In the application, which had been filed by the 1st Respondent he himself had given his date of birth as 12th of June, 1927 and also mentioned that his age as 25 years. On the basis of this application and the Matriculation Certificate the Manager had issued a certificate. Thereafter his service record, Provident Fund Booklet and even the Annual Reports contained the 1st Respondent's date of birth as 12th June, 1927. It is impossible to believe that for all these years the 1st Respondent was not aware of the date of birth in his service record or the Provident Fund Booklet. It is impossible to believe that he has not read a single Annual Report in all these years. If, as claimed by him, he had informed the Company in 1953, he would surely have made some enquiry whether the service record was corrected. This would have been done, if not earlier, at least at the time when the settlement took place between the Union and the Company. That was the time when other employees were getting their age corrected and therefore it is impossible to believe that the 1st Respondent would not have at that time ascertained what his date of birth was in the service record.
