IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 14130 of 2008 Between: Varala Narsimha Reddy, S/o. Varala Chandra Reddy, Hindu, R/o. 3-91, Muraharipally Village, Ranga Reddy District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Union of India, Rep. by its Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. 2 The Regional PassportOfficer, Near PrashanthTheatre, Secunderabad. .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 a Writ or direction one or more in the nature of Writ of Mandamus by directing the Respondents to issue of fresh passport or renew the old passport with correct date of birth as per the authentic records submitted along with the petitioner passport application without insisting for any further material. Counsel for the Petitioner : MR. D.MADHAVA RAO Counsel for the Respondents : Mr. P. Venugopal for RR-2. The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G. ROHINI WRIT PETITION No.14130 OF 2008 ORDER : The petitioner herein was issued a Passport bearing No.A/46384/95, dated 24.10.1995 which was valid upto 23.10.2005. Therafter, the petitioner made an application for renewal of his passport. While making renewal application, the petitioner also sought correction of his date of birth in the passport as 15.08.1968 instead of 20.10.1965. Aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the respondent in entertaining the said application, the present writ petition is filed. 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 according to which a declaration from a competent Court is required only where Clause (c) of the Circular dated 18.04.2001 is attracted. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is disposed of with a direction to the petitioner to resubmit the application with all the documents to substantiate his correct date of birth. If any such application made, the respondent is directed to consider the same in terms of the Circular dated 18-04-2001 and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of such application from the petitioner. No costs. ______________ G. ROHINI, J. Dt.25–06-2009 gbs