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 : 20215 of 2008 Between: Jakkampudi Srinivasa RAO, S/o. Sesha Rao, R/o. Aduru (Village), Mamidikuduru Mandal, East Godavari District A,P, ..... PETITIONER AND Regional Passport Office, 43.1-11-20/A,B,C, Subbalakshminagar, Opp: Sri Kanya Theatre, T.S.N.Colony, Visakhapatnam - 530016, A.P., .....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 writ, order or direction, more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the respondents to enter the correct date of birth of the petitioner and to issue the passport with corrected date of birth as 07-05-1974 basing on the certiﬁcate issued by the Board of Secondary Education and declaring the action of the respondent in refusing to do so as illegal, arbitrary and violative of natural justice and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.T.V.S.PRABHAKARA RAO Counsel for the Respondent No.: . The Court made the following : O R D E R: This Writ Petition has been ﬁled by Jakkampudi Srinivasa Rao assailing the action of Regional Passport Oﬃcer- respondent in not entertaining the application ﬁled by him for correction of his date of birth in Passport No.G-2612815 issued on 28.6.2007. The petitioner holds the passport for a period of ten years i.e. upto 27.6.2017. His date of birth in the passport was mentioned as 10-03-1968. According to the petitioner the mistake had been crept in with regard to the date of birth and his correct date of birth is 7.5.1974. He made representation to the respondent to record his correct date of birth in the passport. But the respondents refused to receive the said representation. Hence, this writ petition. Notice before admission has been ordered. Despite service of notice respondent did not chose to enter appearance through 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 date of birth of the petitioner has been wrongly mentioned in the passport as 10-03-1968 instead of 07.05.1974 and therefore the date of birth is required to be modified. With regard to rectiﬁcation of date 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. Under the provisions of the Passport Act, 1967, no power is vested in the Regional Passport Oﬃcer to correct entries in the passport. 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 to modify her date of birth as 07-05-1974 instead of 10-03-1968 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.20215 OF 2008 6T H NOVEMBER, 2008 [1] 2003(4) ALT 474