IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE SIXTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 20865 of 2008 Between: Dr. Swathy Vemuri, D/o. Sri V.V.Narayana, Flat No.301, Orchid villa Apartments, Siddarthanagar, Vengal Rao Nagar, Hyderabad, A.P. 500 038 ..... PETITIONER AND The Passport Officer, Regional Passport Office, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Adjacent to Prashant Theatre, Near Clock Tower, Secunderabad. .....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 to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declring the Requisition Letter dated 22-07-2008 issued by the respodnent seeking the submission of Declaratory civil Court Order in respect of change of Place of Birth on the Petitionrs Passport No.G 9228153 as being arbitrary, illegal, discriminatory and unwarranted and is a clear violation of petitioners fundamental rights guarantedd under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and of the Circular dated 18-04-2001 issued by the Ministry of External Aﬀairs, Government of India, New Delhi and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.T.V.L.NARASIMHA RAO Counsel for the Respondent No.: . The Court made the following : O R D E R: This writ petition has been ﬁled by Dr.Swathy Vemuri assailing the action of the respondent in issuing requisition letter dated 22.7.2008 seeking submission of Declaratory Civil Court Order in respect of change of place of birth in the passport of the petitioner. The petitioner obtained Passport bearing No.G 9228153 issued on 4.6.2008, which is valid upto 3.6.2018. In the application seeking passport the petitioner mentioned her place of birth as Hyderabad. Later she came to know that her place of birth is Vijayawada. Therefore, she submitted an application to the respondent for change of place of birth. The respondent directed the petitioner to secure declaratory decree from the competent civil Court with regard to change of place of birth. Notice before admission has been ordered on 24.9.2008. Despite service of notice, the respondent did not choose to enter either in person or through a counsel. Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and perused the record. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the place of birth of the petitioner has been wrongly mentioned in the passport as Hyderabad instead of Vijayawada and therefore the place of birth is required to be rectiﬁed. Learned counsel placed on record a copy of the date of birth certiﬁcate of the petitioner issued by the Municipal Corporation as proof of place of birth. With regard to rectiﬁcation of place of birth in the passport, it is no more a res-integra in view of various decisions of this Court and also the circular issued by External Aﬀairs Department, Government of India dated 18th April, 2001. In ALI IMRAN V. REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER, SECUNDERABAD[1] this court has considered the Circular dated 18.4.2001 issued by 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 (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 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 that view of the matter, this writ petition is disposed of directing the respondent to entertain and consider the application of the petitioner dated 4.8.2008 to rectify her place of birth as Vijayawada instead of Hyderabad if it is otherwise in accordance with Circular dated 18.4.2001 issued by Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs. 6th November, 2008 (B.Seshasayana Reddy,J) tnb ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{LS} THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO.20865 OF 2008 [1] 2003(4) ALT 474