IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE NINETEENTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 23131 of 2008 Between: Ananthula Shiva Kumar S/o. Ananthula Dharmaraju R/o. Naganur Village, Mandal Sarangapur District Karimnagar. ..... PETITIONER AND The Regional Passport Officer, Passport Office, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENT Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue writ or order direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring the act of the respondent in not considering of the Request of the petitioner to correct the date of birth in the passport as illegal, and arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of Constitution of India, and consequently direct the respondent to correct the petitioner's date of birth 2-3- 1981 as 2-3-1982 by entering in the relevant column in the petitioner's passport bearing passport No. E5211226, dt. 16-5-2003 and pass other order or orders Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.SHANKAR BHEEMANATHI Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR.PENJURIVENUGOPAL The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G. ROHINI WRIT PETITION No.23131 of 2008 ORDER : The petitioner herein was issued the passport bearing No.E5211226 dated 16-05-2002. It was found in the passport that the date of birth was wrongly mentioned as 02-03-1981 whereas as per his secondary school certificate, the correct date of birth is 02-03-1982. In the circumstances, the petitioner made a representation requesting the respondent-Regional Passport Officer to correct the entry relating to the date of birth in his passport. Having received the same, the respondent-Regional Passport Officer, by letter dated 28-07-2008 called upon the petitioner to surrender the original Passport alleging that he had suppressed the material information. Aggrieved by the said action of the respondent, the present writ petition is filed. I have heard the learned Counsel for both the parties. It is to be noted that though there is no provision under the Passports Act, 1967 providing for correction of entries in the passport, the Government of India issued instructions/clarifications vide Circular dated 18-04-2001 which run as under : (a) Where an applicant is seeking rectification/Correction of a mistake in the entry of date of birth/place of birth in the passport, PIA (Passport Issuing Authority) may after verifying/satisfying himself, affect the correction treating the same as a technical correction. There is no need for a declaratory order in such cases. (b) Where a competent authority issuing a birth certificate or an educational board registering a date of birth along with place of birth as valid were to issue any correction or amendment, PIA may effect the necessary amendment in the passport without insisting on a Court Order. As per the provisions of Section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1997, a competent authority issuing a certificate could also make necessary amendments to the same. (c) Where the initial entry has been made on the basis of a supportive document issued by one competent authority and the applicant subsequently requests for a change on the basis of a certificate issued by another competent authority i.e., municipal authorities resulting in conflicting sources of valid proof, the PIA should direct the applicant to obtain a civil order from a competent Court of jurisdiction, certifying the valid date of birth/place of birth. The above instructions are binding on the respondent and any request for correction of the entries in the passport has to be considered in terms of the Circular dated 18-04-2001. In the circumstances, a declaration from a competent Court of jurisdiction cannot be insisted for considering each and every request of correction of entries in the passport. Such a declaration from a competent Court of jurisdiction is required only where Clause (c) of the Circular dated 18.04.2001 is attracted. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, the impugned order is set aside and the Writ Petition is disposed of granting liberty to the petitioner to resubmit the application along with all the relevant supporting material in which event the respondent shall consider the same in terms of the Circular dated 18-04-2001 and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of such application. No costs. ______________ G. ROHINI, J. Date: 19–06-2009 KLP