THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G. ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO. 23733 OF 2006 DATED: 05-07-2007 Between : Farooqi Mohammed Azamuddin … Petitioner And The Joint Secretary (CVP) & Chief Passport Officer, CVP Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Tilak Marg, New Delhi and another. ... Respondents THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G. ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO. 23733 OF 2006 ORDER : The petitioner herein was granted a passport bearing No.Z 1422588, dated 24-02-1999, which is valid up to 23-02-2009. It is stated that subsequently it was noticed by the petitioner that his date of birth was wrongly mentioned in the passport as 21-04-1956 instead of 21-04-1962. In the circumstances, the petitioner made an application requesting to correct the entry relating to the date of birth and issue a fresh passport. However, the respondents refused to entertain his application and insisted on a declaratory decree from a Civil Court. Hence, this writ petition. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the material on record. Despite service of notice, the respondents did not choose to appear. It is to be noted that the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, issued circular dated 18.04.2001, which reads 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.” Having considered the above circular, this Court in Ali Imran v. Regional Passport Officer, Secunderabad [1] held that as per the circular dated 18.04.2001, it is permissible to accept the applications for rectification/correction of the entries in the passport. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the correction of date of birth of the petitioner in the passport is only a technical correction, and therefore, it falls under clause (a) of the circular. In support of his submission the learned counsel relied upon the decision in Asra Begum v. Regional Passport Officer, Secunderabad [2]. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and following the decision of this Court in Ali Imran’s case (1 supra), the writ petition is disposed of granting liberty to the petitioner to make a fresh application with relevant material to substantiate his plea, within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. If any such application is made, the respondents are directed to consider the same in accordance with the circular dated 18.04.2001 and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law and communicate the same to the petitioner within a period of four weeks thereafter. The writ petition is accordingly, disposed of. No costs. _______________ G. ROHINI, J. Date 05-07-2007 KLP [1] 2003(3) ALD 625; [2] 2004(6) ALD 360.