Denial of passport can seriously impend citizen’s rights: Delhi High Court

Every citizen has a legal right to own a passport, according to the Delhi High Court, and only legitimate reasons may be given for refusing to issue one.

The court made the remarks while vacating an order from the Passport Seva Programme (PSP) & Central Passport Organisation (CPIO), the Appellate Authority, dated February 27, 2020, which upheld a decision made by the Passport Officer on November 7, 2019, which denied a request to change the date of birth on a man's passport named Nishant Singhal.

"An application for the renewal of passport cannot be denied solely on the basis of an apprehension that the earlier passports would have been misused," Justice Subramonium Prasad's single-judge panel ruled in a ruling dated July 18. Denying a passport has the negative impact of severely restricting a citizen's rights. Passport applications can only be rejected for legitimate reasons.

The Appellate Authority had noted Singhal had gotten a passport that had been reissued twice when he was a child and had the same birthdate as his birth certificate, which was dated February 11, 2003: January 16, 2003. It further noted that on July 2, 2007, a fresh birth certificate bearing his new date of birth of July 16, 2003 was issued to him following the second renewal.

The Authority determined his request for a change in date of birth was not legitimate because the birth certificate with the date of February 11, 2003, was issued even before he was born. Singhal filed an objection with the High Court.

Singhal said that his parents obtained a passport for him with his birthdate listed as January 16, 2003, based on the original birth certificate, and that after detecting their error, they obtained a new birth certificate with the date amended to July 16, 2003.

The Union Ministry of External Affairs issued an office memorandum that states that any claims for changing a passport's date of birth after five years have passed since it was issued will only be considered "if the applicant was a minor at the time the passport was issued with the alleged wrong date and such an applicant after attaining the age of majority applies for a change in date of birth in the passport."

Singhal's request for his passport to be reissued, according to the document, was only turned down because his passport had already been issued with a birthdate of January 16, 2003 and had been renewed twice using the same birth certificate.

"On the mere suspicion of fraud and malice, the Respondent has ignored the other legitimate documents supplied by the petitioner. The Respondent No. 3 (Appellate Authority) has not filed any documentation to support their suspicions. Additionally, the Respondent hasn't given any justification for rejecting the Petitioner's application that was accompanied by duly issued government documents, the HC noted.

Singhal had provided all necessary documentation and had provided his true birthdate, according to the court. It further stated that Singhal's parents' "mistake" in providing the incorrect birthdate could not be used against him. Additionally, it stated that Singhal had presented legitimate proof of date of birth in the form of Aadhaar Card and grade reports from classes 10 and 12.