Dating error, courting trouble: Official born on the wrong day!

NASHIK, March 30: Can a person be born on February 29, 1941? Logically, no. Because 1941 was not a leap year. However, all of Jehangir Gamalsingh Walvi’s documents reveal that he was born on that day. Now, on the eve of his retirement, the Joint Commissioner of Tribal Development has to contend with a row at the tribal development commissionerate here, thanks to his birth date. Walvi’s school leaving certificate mentions his date of birth as February 29, 1941. His SSC Board certificate gives the same date.

Walvi joined the state government service in 1967 and his service book as well as his transfer/posting letters mention his birth date as February 29, 1941. In 1988, the Accountant General’s office noticed the error and, according to Walvi, a Desk Officer, changed the year to 1940. In 1989, the Director, Tribal Development Department, wrote to the government that instead of changing the year, the date should be changed to February 28. But nothing came of the proposal.

Now, according to the AccountantGeneral’s office, Walvi was born in 1940 and hence is due for retirement. In fact, it says, he should have retired on February 28, 1998. However, according to the school leaving certificate and other records, Walvi was born in 1941 and still has a year to go. Whencontacted, Walvi said that he had committed no fraud. He said though 1941 was not a leap year, the government should have rectified the mistake by changing the date to February 28 instead of changing the year to 1940. He said some of his colleagues, eager for promotion, had raked up the issue.