Basharat Dhar claims he didn’t change DOB

Law Deptt sources: IAS officer’s changed DOB was endorsed by City Munsif in 1989 but rejected by High Court in 2002

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Oct 17: Senior IAS officer and Commissioner-Secretary Power Development Department, Basharat Ahmad Dhar, today claimed that he had neither changed nor manipulated his Date of Birth (DoB) to overstay in service. Sources in the government’s Law Department, however, insisted that the IAS officer had obtained a desired order from the court of City Munsif in Srinagar in May 1989 for effecting change in his DOB but the same order was quashed by J&K High Court in 2002.

In reaction to two news reports carried by this newspaper on October 15^th and October 17^th, Commissioner-Secretary PDD, Basharat Ahmad Dhar, asserted today that he had “never ever in my life” changed or manipulated his DOB to overstay in government service. Without publishing any facts approvingly and without identifying any officer, Early Times had only reported that Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had received an anonymous complaint and sought verification from J&K Chief Secretary as well as Accountant General (AG).

Mr Dhar said that the news reports were about himself and it was none other than him against whom the complaint had been submitted. He complained that he was being targeted “out of malice and professional rivalry” at the verge of his retirement. On his part, he insisted to “set the record right” by producing his Matriculation, BA and MA certificates, as well as the first page of his service book. He said that he had received the first communication on this subject from AG’s officer on October 16^th and nobody in the state government had brought contents of any complaint to his notice till date.

“But when I learned that a whisper campaign, leading to a character assassination campaign, was gaining currency against me, I voluntarily went to Chief Minister and explained my position to him with concrete supporting evidence”, Mr Dhar said.

This senior KAS officer, who was inducted into IAS with 1989 as his year of allotment, is due to reach superannuation on 31-12-2011. With the help of supporting documents, Mr Dhar claimed that 25-12-1951 was his DOB right from the day of joining his school till the end of his service. He claimed that he had neither changed nor manipulated his DOB. He further claimed that all the three retired officers, namely Mumtaz Afzal, Ghulam Mohiuddin and Prof Abdul Ahad, who had been mentioned in one of the newspaper reports as his colleagues in Archives Department, were far senior and older to him and his comparison to them was “completely irrelevant”.

Mr Dhar claimed that Mrs Naseem Lankar (now Commissioner-Secretary School Education), Mr Mohammad Sayeed Khan (now Commissioner-Secretary General Administration Department) and Mr Zahoor Ahmad Chisti (now IGP) were his contemporaries at University of Kashmir. He pointed out that all three were very much in active service of the state government.

According to the Matriculation Certificate produced by Mr Dhar, he passed his Matriculation Examination under Roll No: 4806 in the year 1966. Signed by Secretary ‘The Jammu & Kashmir Board of Secondary Education, Srinagar”, on 20-06-1966, this certificate mentions the candidate’s name as “Basharat Ahmad S/o Gulam Ahmad” and his DOB as 25-12-1951.

Another certificate, signed and issued by Controller and Vice Chancellor of “The University of Jammu & Kashmir” on 20-10-1971 mentions that the candidate “Basharat Ahmed S/o Gulam Ahmed Dhar” appeared in annual session of 1971 under Roll No: 1263 (Registration No: 8152-S-66) and passed his examination of Bachelor of Arts in the year 1971. It does not mention any DOB.

Yet another certificate, signed by Controller of Examinations and Vice Chancellor of “University of Kashmir” and issued on 20-10-1975 mentions that the candidate “Basharat Ahmed S/o Ghulam Ahmed Dhar” appeared under Roll No: 379 in session of 1973 and passed his Master of Arts in Economics in the year 1974. It also does not mention any DOB.

Mr Dhar also produced the first page of his Service Book which mentions his name as “Basharat Ahmad Dhaar S/o Kh Ghulam Ahmed Dhaar”. It also records his DOB as 25-12-1951.

“It stands amply clear in the light of all these certificates that my date of birth has remained unchanged as 25-12-1951 and there is no question of my having manipulated it at any point of time during my education or service period”, Mr Dhar asserted.

However, well-placed sources in the government’s Law Department maintained that the matter was “under investigation”. They disclosed that, notwithstanding Mr Dhar’s claims and clarifications, it has surfaced that he had started the process of changing his DOB from 7-9-1949 to 25-12-1951 in the year 1989 with an application in the court of City Munsif Srinagar.

According to these sources, whose inputs are now being verified by Early Times, City Munsif Srinagar granted change in DOB as prayed for by the applicant Mr Basharat Ahmed Dhar in an exparte judgment on 9-5-1989. In compliance to the court order, J&K Board of School Education issued a fresh Matriculation certificate that recorded Mr Dhar’s DOB as 25-12-1951. Later, Fourth Additional District Judge Srinagar issued another order on the appeal on 28-8-1993.

Finally on 2-3-2002, Mr Justice Muzaffar Jan of J&K High Court quashed both the orders and did not permit any change in Mr Dhar’s DOB. Sources said that the facts surfacing dramatically with regard to the IAS officer’s DOB were being scrutinized and in case same were established as correct, Mr Dhar would be treated to have reached superannuation on 30-09-2009 and criminal proceedings could be separately initiated against him.

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