THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.S.NARAYANA Writ Petition No.28013 of 2007 DATE: 4th February, 2008 Between :- Mohd. Nizamuddin .. Petitioner And The Regional Passport Officer, Regional Passport Office, Secunderabad .. Respondent THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.S.NARAYANA Writ Petition No.28013 of 2007 ORDER;- This Court ordered Notice Before Admission on 28- 12-2007. 2. The Writ Petition is filed for a Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondent not considering the representation of the petitioner for correction of date of birth in the passport and not making the change of date of birth in the passport as arbitrary, illegal, null and void and apart from the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondent to correct defendant on behalf of as 6-4-1982 instead of date of birth as 4-4-1979 in passport No.B2138930 of the petitioner and pass such other suitable orders. 3. It is stated by the petitioner in the affidavit filed in support of the Writ Petition that he obtained passport through an agent vide passport No.B2138930 on 8-6- 2000 and in that passport his date of birth was wrongly shown as 4-4-1979 by mistake instead of his original date of birth as 6-4-1982. It is also stated by the petitioner that as per his 7th class, Secondary School Certificate and Ration Card his correct date of birth is 6-4-1982 and also stated that he is seeking job visa in Gulf countries and because of variation regarding with his date of birth and mistake in the passport, it is causing many difficulties in getting job visa in Gulf countries. Further it is stated that the petitioner approached the respondent by way of representation dt.29-11-2007 to correct his date of birth and the respondent refused to take the representation and not considered his representation. It is also averred that the petitioner is seeking Job Visa in abroad and because of the mistake of date of birth in his passport, it is causing much difficulty to secure Job Visa and that if this Court will not direct the respondent to make correction of his date of birth in the passport, it will be caused untold hardship and great loss which cannot be compensated in any other means and his bright future will be spoiled. 4. The Circular dt.18-4-2001 reads as hereunder:- Ministry of External Affairs (PV-I Section) Circular ___/401/2/5/2001 18th April, 2001 As per the current practice, in case of change of date of birth/place of birth, the applicant is required to produce the original declaratory order from a First Class Judicial Magistrate. However in view of the recent Judgment given by the High Court of Judicature at Mumbai in CWP No.1072 of 2000 filed by Shri Jigar Harish Shah, the following clarifications are issued: (a) Where an applicant is seeking rectification/correction of a mistake in the entry on date of birth/place of birth in the passport, PIA 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 affect 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 i.e., School/educational 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. Sd// (Manju) Under Secretary (PV-I) All Passport Issuing Authorities Copy for information to L&T Division, MEA 5. The learned Counsel placed strong reliance on the decision in ALI IMRAN v. REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER, SECUNDERABAD[1] wherein the learned Judge of this Court at paras 3 and 4 observed as hereunder:- “Be it noted that under provisions of the Passports Act, 1967, no power is vested in the Regional Passport Officer to correct entries in the passport. However, pursuant to the Judgment of the High Court of Bombay referred to hereinafter, it is now permissible for the Regional Passport Officer to accept applications for rectification/correction. Nonetheless, as per clause (c) above, if an entry had been made on the basis of a supportive document issued by one authority i.e., school or educational authority and subsequently the applicant requests for a change of the entry on the basis of the certificate issued by another authority the passport issuing authority is required to direct the applicant to obtain a proper declaration from the Civil Court. Having regard to the clarification issued by the Government of India, I directed the learned Standing Counsel for Central Government, Sri K.G.Krishna Murthy to produce a copy of the application made by the petitioner for passport in the year 1999. The application is produced before me today. A perusal of the application along with its enclosures reveal that the petitioner enclosed Secondary School Certificate bearing C019604 dated 10-6-1987 which shows his date of birth as 28-7-1992. Therefore, it cannot be said that an error has crept in the passport issued to the petitioner. As the petitioner is now placing reliance on the on the birth certificate issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, which shows his date of birth as 28-7-1975, his case does not fall within the guidelines/instructions issued by the Government of India. If the petitioner is so advised, he may have to approach the Civil Court or the authorities under the Education Act seeking necessary correction of date of birth in the Secondary School Certificate and then approach the passport issuing authority. The petitioner’s application was rightly not accepted by the respondent.” In Mohd.Narsullah Khan v. Regional Passport Officer, Hyderabad[2] the learned Judge observed at paras 4, 5, 6 and 7 as hereunder:- “In Ali Imran v. Regional Passport Officer, Secunderabad (2003 (4) ALT 474 = 2003 (3) ALD 625, I have considered the Circular dated 18-4-2001 issued by the Government of India in the Ministry of External Affairs pursuant to the Judgment of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in Civil Writ Petition No.1072 of 2000. The instructions/clarifications issued in the said Circular read as under: (a) Where an applicant is seeking rectification/correction of a mistake in the entry on date of birth/place of birth in the passport, PIA 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 affect 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 i.e., School/educational 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. In view of the above clarifications, I disposed of the said case observing as under: Be it noted that under the provisions of the Passports Act, 1967, no power is vested in the Regional Passport Officer to correct entries in the passport. However, pursuant to the Judgment of the High Court of Bombay referred to hereinabove, it is now permissible for the Regional Passport Officer to accept applications for rectification/correction. Nonetheless, as per clause (c) above, if an entry had been made on the basis of a supportive document issued by one authority i.e., school or educational authority and subsequently the applicant requests for a change of the entry on the basis of the certificate issued by another authority the passport issuing authority is required to direct the applicant to obtain a proper declaration from the civil Court. In this case, the petitioner has produced Secondary School Certificate to prove that his correct date of birth is 1-4-1976. Therefore, the claim of the petitioner is well supported and squarely falls in Clause (a) of the Circular dt.18-4- 2001. Following the Judgment of this Court in Ali Imran (referred above) this Writ Petition is also disposed of directing the respondent to consider the application of the petitioner along with the Secondary School Certificate No.PC/01/0190544/2 PRIVATE, issued by the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, and to pass appropriate orders in the light of the observations made in the above Judgment. There shall be no order as to costs.” 6. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is disposed of directing the respondent to consider the application of the petitioner along with the Secondary School Certificate issued by the Secretary, Board of Secondary Education, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, and to pass appropriate orders in the light of the observations made in the above Judgments. There shall be no order as to costs. __________________ Justice P.S.Narayana 4th February, 2008 NOTE: C.C. in three days (B/o.smr) [1] 2003 (3) ALD 625 [2] 2005(1) ALT 95