IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 14317 of 2009 Between: Syed Atiff, S/o. Syed Lateef, R/o. 11-1-1686, Chandra Sekhar Colony, Nizamabad. ..... PETITIONER AND The Regional Passport Officer, passport Office, Hyderabd. .....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 issue an appropriate writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Manamus declaring the action of the respondents in not considering of the request of the petitioner to correct his name as "Syed Atiff" instead of "Syed Ateef" and his date of birth as 6-6-1989 instead of 2.6.1986 in the passport, as illegal and arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of Constitution of India, and consequently direct the respondents to correct the name of the petitioner as "Syed Atiff" instead of "syed Ateef" and his date of birth as 6-6-1989 instead of 2.6.1986 by entering the same in the relevant column of the passport bearing No.G 1142876, Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.D.ISAAC Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR.PENJURIVENUGOPAL The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION No : 14317 of 2009 ORDER : The petitioner was issued a passport bearing No.G1142876. It is stated that his date of birth was wrongly entered in the said passport as 2.6.1986 instead of 6.6.1989. Similarly, his name was wrongly shown as Syed Ateef instead of Sayed Atiff. The petitioner approached the respondent seeking correction of the above said mistakes in the passport. However, the respondent had refused to entertain his application and insisting upon the production of a declaratory order from a competent Civil Court. Aggrieved by the said action, the writ petition is filed. I have 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. In the circumstances, a declaration from a competent Court of jurisdiction cannot be insisted for considering each and every request of correction of entries in the passport. Such a declaration from a competent Court of jurisdiction is required only where Clause (c) of the Circular dated 18.04.2001 is attracted. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, the writ petition is disposed of permitting the petitioner to resubmit his application for correction of the entries in the passport along with the relevant supporting material in which event the respondent shall receive the same and consider in terms of the Circular dated 18-04-2001 and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of such application. No costs. _______________ Justice G. Rohini Date: 17.07.2009 mrb