HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR CONTEMPT CASE No.1144 of 2011 in WRIT PETITION No.19031 of 2010 Date: September 23, 2011 Between: Mohd. Shoukat Ali … Petitioner And Dr. K. Srikar Reddy, The Regional Passport Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Passport office, Secunderabad. … Respondent * * * HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR CONTEMPT CASE No.1144 of 2011 in WRIT PETITION No.19031 of 2010 O R D E R: This contempt case was filed alleging disobedience to the order dated 04.8.2010 passed by this Court in W.P. No.19031 of 2010. 2. The issue for consideration in the writ petition was the alleged inaction on the part of the Regional Passport Officer, Secunderabad, in issuing a new passport to the petitioner with his correct date of birth. The petitioner’s case was that his date of birth is 12.02.1971 which was incorrectly shown as 10.6.1967 in the existing passport. Following the earlier judgments of this Court, the writ petition was disposed of directing the Regional Passport Officer, Secunderabad, to follow the Circular Instructions; clarifying that as the petitioner was seeking correction of his date of birth, the matter would fall within Clause (a) of the Circular dated 18.4.2001 and that there would be no necessity to obtain a declaratory order. However, the order concluded with the statement that in the event Clause (c) of the Circular Instructions had application, it would be necessary for the petitioner to produce a declaratory order. 3. It is not in dispute that after the Circular Instructions of 2001, the Circular Instructions dated 29.10.2007 were issued which require that where correction of date of birth is sought with a variation in excess of two years, the applicant must provide a satisfactory explanation that the same documents were submitted at the time of the initial passport application. 4. In his counter, the Regional Passport Officer, Secunderabad, stated that the petitioner could not establish what documents were furnished at the time of obtaining his initial passport in the year 1988. His case was therefore construed to fall within Clause (c) and he was accordingly called upon to produce a declaratory order from the competent Court of law. 5. In the light of the aforestated facts and the discretion given to the passport authority in the concluding paragraph of this Court’s order in W.P. No.19031 of 2010, the insistence by the said authority that the petitioner produce a declaratory order cannot be said to be in violation of this Court’s directive. 6. The contempt case is accordingly dismissed. The Regional Passport Officer, Secunderabad, shall return the original documents of the petitioner to enable him to approach the competent Court of law for obtaining a declaratory order. No costs. ___________________ SANJAY KUMAR, J Date: September 23, 2011. Note: Issue C.C. in three days. //B.O.// BSB