I didn't need to revert back to an older version of ActivePerl. Here is the solution to this problem:

The PERL5LIB was one oracle which uses 5.8.3 sets up. So I made sure PER5LIB was changed to PERL5LIB=C:\perl\lib;C:\Perl\lib\DBD\Oracle;C:\Perl\lib\auto\DBD\Oracle;

From site:
http://community.activestate.com/faq/upgrade-error-version-mis

Don't forget to reset the env variable or reboot.