It is only a badge - not such a big deal is it?
Anyway, that would be up to Tom. You could always email and ask for verification/removal if you think it's that important.
Eh, no, not such a big deal but, in an old blog post @Tom talked about how they "gamified" the website. In that sense, there is an achievement in the game that is unattainable. Wouldn't any developer want to either remove an unattainable achievement or create a method for the achievement to be attained?
I can understand that some users, that have attained the badge, may be upset to lose it, or lose the rep points but, that just goes back to your point; It's just a badge / rep points, is it really that important?