Four months before the CBI arrested Member (Staff),Railway Board,Mahesh Kumar,on bribery charges,his date of birth was amended in official records so that he would be eligible for the post of Chairman,Railway Board in July 2013. The present Chairman,Railway Board,Vinay Mittal,is set to retire on June 30. According to records available with The Sunday Express,Kumars date of birth was changed from May 15,1955 to July 15,1955. The extra two months gave him the benefit of being eligible for the top Railway Board post,for which the minimum residual service has to be two years. The other eligibility criteria is that he should have completed one year as general manager (GM),which Kumar has already completed. As per his earlier date of birth,Kumar was due to retire on May 15,2015. But the new date of birth meant he would be due to retire on July 15,2015,thus ensuring that he had two years of service left and keeping him in the race for the Chairmans post. Although the Deputy Chief Accounts Officer (General) (Dy CAO) had noted that the matter of altering Kumars date of birth should be referred to the Railways Ministry,the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO),Railways,had overruled him by saying it was a clerical error and instructed the Financial Advisor-cum-Chief Accounts Officer (FA & CAO) to make the change. The date of birth of Shri Mahesh Kumar,as per entries made in service records,is shown as 15.05.1955. It is also seen that some manual corrections have been made by crossing 5 and substituting it with 7 in some documents by some Railways (officials) without any decision and direction of the Ministry as such, the Dy CAO had said in a note on December 3,2012. The original service statement made at the time of joining service in 1976 shows the date of birth as 15.05.1955. A certified copy of high school certificate shows the date of birth as 15.07.1955. The President is the competent authority to change the date of birth in case of Group A and B Railways servants. The issue may,therefore,be referred to Railway Board,Ministry of Railways,to decide in consultation with UPSC, the Dy CAO said. But on January 3,the CPO,Railways,ruled that this is a case of correcting a clerical error and not altering of date of birth,which would attract the provisions of Para 225 of Indian Railways Establishment Code (IREC). The Dy CAO had cited this clause to refer the matter to the ministry. As per various records,in which there are no corrections,the date of birth of Shri Mahesh Kumar is 15.7.55. Railway Board also directed Western Railways regarding corrective action,taken accordingly in the matter after considering the high school certificate. Thus clearly,Railway Board did not deem it a fit case for referring to President. Therefore it appears that there is no basis of entering 15.5.55 as the date of birth in the service statement, said the CPO. In a note to the FA & CAO,the CPO instructed that necessary action to correct your record may be taken after considering the high school certificate as well as Railway Boards letter,issued at the time of appointment of Shri Mahesh Kumar.
