Guidelines on issuing passports cannot circumvent Passport Act: HC
Kochi: HC has held that passport authorities cannot require an applicant to undertake any act for
passport renewal
unless such a requirement is backed by a statutory provision.
A bench of Justice C P Mohamed Nias made the ruling while directing the passport authorities to renew the passport of an applicant who sought a correction in her date of birth, without insisting on a corresponding correction in her service records.
The court was considering a petition filed by Josna Rapheal Poovathingal of Thrissur, challenging the decision of the Regional Passport Officer, Kochi, which required her to first correct the date of birth in her service records before processing her application to renew the passport with the revised date.
The petitioner submitted that she could no longer seek a correction in her service records, as the stipulated time limit for such correction had long expired.
She referred to a GO issued in 1991, which allowed corrections to the date of birth only within five years of entering service.
Taking these facts into account, the court observed that insisting on such a correction would amount to compelling the applicant to perform an act that is no longer legally or practically possible. The court further noted that no provision exists requiring correction of service records as a precondition for changing the date of birth in a passport.
by Taboola
by Taboola
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The bench accordingly held that the compendium of instructions or guidelines relating to the issue of passports in India or abroad cannot override the provisions of the Passports Act, 1967, the rules framed thereunder, or any other instrument having the force of law. It, therefore, directed the authorities to consider the petitioner's application without insisting on a correction in the service records, within two weeks.
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