THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT PETITION No. 24364 OF 2011 O R D E R: The petitioner was issued a passport bearing No. E 8796378 on 23.04.2004. The petitioner states that his correct date of birth is 28.08.1990, however, it was wrongly entered in the passport as 28.09.1989. The petitioner requested the respondent to correct the date of birth as 28.08.1990 instead of 28.09.1989. Alleging that the respondent failed to accept the application, the present writ petition is filed seeking a declaration that the action of the respondent in not issuing a fresh passport with correct date of birth, as arbitrary and illegal. I have heard Sri M. Saleem, learned counsel for the petitioner as well as Sri N.V. Ramanujam, learned Central Government Standing Counsel appearing for the respondent who has pointed out that post- 26.01.1989, the basis for grant of the passport or any claims relating to entries of dates of birth therein must be routed through the entries made in the births and deaths register and school record cannot be made the basis. However, while I concede that the entries in the births and deaths register can be considered to be an authentic record, for the purpose of vouching for the correctness of the dates of birth or death, as the case may be, but still, one fact, which stares at us, is that majority of the Indians, particularly those who reside in rural areas, may not be bringing the information to the recording authority for making entries in the births and deaths register. Such factors perhaps should not be put against the applicants. As could be seen, the specific case of the petitioner is that his date of birth has been recorded in all his educational certificates as 28.08.1990, however the same was wrongly entered in the passport as 28.09.1989. The Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs issued a circular dated 29.10.2007 prescribing the procedure to be followed by the passport issuing authority in the cases relating to change of date of birth/place of birth in the passports, to the following effect: “ (a) Where an applicant claims clerical/technical mistake in the entry relating to birth/place of birth in the passport and asks for rectification/correction: In all such cases the documents produced earlier as proof of date of birth/place of birth at the time of issue of passport may be perused (if not already destroyed) by PIA. In case, it is a clerical mistake either by the applicant or the PIA, date/place of birth correction may be allowed by issue of fresh passport booklet; in the former case, by charging fee for fresh passport and in the latter, ‘gratis’. There is no need for declaratory court order in such cases. (b) Where a competent authority which issued a birth certificate or an educational certificate, issues any correction or amendment in date/place of birth, PIA may effect the necessary amendment in the passport without insisting on a Court Order provided the same document was produced earlier with the passport application. Fresh fees will be charged.” As per the said circular, a declaratory order from the competent civil Court cannot be insisted as a matter of course in all cases. Therefore, the respondents are bound to receive the application of the petitioner and consider the same in accordance with the circular dated 29.10.2007. After such consideration, if the Passport Issuing Authority is satisfied that the material produced is sufficient to rectify/correct the date of birth in terms of the circular dated 29.10.2007, they may rectify/correct the date of birth in the passport or if the petitioner’s claim is not accepted, the reasons should be communicated to him. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondent to receive the application of the writ petitioner and consider the same in terms of the Government of India’s circular dated 29.10.2007 and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law, as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of four (4) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No costs. ---------------------------------- (NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J) 29th August 2011 ksld