In Brief
An employee of Hindustan Copper Limited sought correction of his date of birth for computing higher voluntary retirement benefits. The employer initially recorded his birth as 21st September 1949 in his service book (1975) and subsequent payslips, but later claimed this was an error and insisted his actual birth date (per Form B, 1971) was 21st September 1945. The Supreme Court held the employer could not unilaterally alter the date of birth without natural justice and proper authority. Since the service book and official documents consistently showed 1949 over 27 years, the employer was estopped from relying on the contradictory 1971 entry. The Court directed payment of full VRS benefits based on the 1949 date, with interest from the date of retirement.
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