IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE ELEVENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 12542 of 2008 Between: Qamar Sultana S/o. Ali Moula R/o. 5-7-286, New Aghapura, Beside Mediland Hospital, Hyderabad, A.P. ..... PETITIONER AND Regional Passport Officer, Regional Passport Office, 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 issue an Order direction writ one in the nature of writ of Mandamus directing the respondents to enter correct date of birth of the petitioner in his Passport Port bearing Passport No. E 3849472 issue passport with correct date of birth and pass any other or orders as this Hon'ble Court deems ﬁt and proper in the interest of justice. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.K.MAQBOOL AHAMED BASHA Counsel for the Respondent No: The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition has been ﬁled by Qamar Sultana assailing the inaction of the respondent in considering the application with regard to correction of date of birth in her passport. The petitioner applied for passport with all necessary certiﬁcates, namely, date of birth certiﬁcate issued by the MCH and secondary school certiﬁcate for proof of her age. The respondent issued passport vide passport No.E3849472, which was valid up to 7.11.2012. It is the contention of the petitioner that her date of birth is inadvertently mentioned in the passport as 04.04.1971 instead of 25.04.1962. She submitted representation on 17.01.2008 seeking correction of date of birth in passport. There being no action on her representation she approached this Court invoking the jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Notice before admission has been ordered on 18.06.2008. The respondent, in spite of receipt of notice, did not choose to enter appearance either in person or through a counsel. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the correct date of birth of the petitioner is 25.04.1962 and the same is supported by the certiﬁcate issued by the MCH authorities. Therefore, necessary direction is to be given to the respondent for rectiﬁcation of date of birth of the petitioner in the passport. The Government of India in the Ministry of External Aﬀairs issued circular dated 18.04.2001 and according to clause (a) of the said circular, where an applicant is seeking rectiﬁcation of date of birth in the passport, Passport Issuing authority may after verifying/satisfying himself, aﬀect the correction treating it as technical correction and there is no need for declaratory orders in such cases. The said Circular/instructions came to be considered by this Court in Mohd. Nasrullah Khan v. Regional Passport Oﬃcer, Hyderabad[1]. The circular dated 18.04.2001 reads as hereunder. Ministry of External Affairs (PV-I Section) CIRCULAR ____/401/2/5/2001 18.04.2001 As per the current practice, in case of change of date of birth/place of birth, the applicant is required to produce the original declaratory order from a First Class Judicial Magistrate. However in view of the recent Judgment given by the High Court of Judicature at Mumbai in CWP No.1072 of 2000 ﬁled by Shri Jigar Harish Shah, the following clarifications are issued: (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 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 aﬀect the necessary amendment in the passport without insisting on a Court Order. As per the provisions fo 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. Sd// (Manju) Under Secretary (PV-I) All Passport Issuing Authorities Copy for information to L&T Division, MEA. The learned counsel placed reliance on the decision of this Court in Ali Imran v. Regional Transport Oﬃcer, Secunderabad,[2] wherein it has been held as hereunder. “Be it noted that under the provisions of the Passports Act, 1967, no power is vested in the Regional Passport Oﬃcer to correct entries in the passport. However, pursuant to the judgment of the High Court of Bombay referred to hereinabove, it is now permissible for the Regional Passport Oﬃcer to accept applications for rectiﬁcation/correction. Nonetheless, as per clause (c) above, if an entry had been made on the basis of a supportive document issued by one authority i.e., school or educational authority and subsequently the applicant requests for a change of the entry on the basis of the certiﬁcate issued by another authority the passport issuing authority is required to direct the applicant to obtain a proper declaration from the civil court.” In view of the settled proposition of law, the writ petition is disposed of directing the respondent to consider the application ﬁled by the petitioner seeking correction of date of birth in accordance with the Circular issued by the Central Government dated 18.4.2001 and pass appropriate orders. _________________________ (B. Seshasayana Reddy, J.) 11th September, 2008 Js. ASSISTANT REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 The Regional Passport Officer, Regional Passport Office, Secunderabad. 2 2 CD copies. [1] 2005 (1) ALD 419 [2] 2003 (4) ALT 474