IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE EIGHTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 12410 of 2008 Between: Gauravarapu Navlur Nikhil S/o.Sri G.N.Sivaramakrishna R/o.H.No.5-138, Krishna Nagar colony Moula Ali, Hyderabad ..... PETITIONER AND The Pass Port Officer, Regional Passport office Hyderabad, Andhra pradesh .....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 a writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the proceedings inFile No. HYDM00509808 dated 19.5.2008 as illegal, arbitrary, contrary to the circulation dated 18.4.2001 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of External Aﬀairs, New Delhi, and consequently direct the respondent to rectify the date of birth as 7.8.1986 instead of 7.8.1987 in Passport bearing No.E 8794463 dated 21.4.2004 and pass Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.B.CHANDRASEN REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: . The Court made the following : O R D E R: 1. The petitioner is holder of a passport bearing NoA 7169282 issued in the year 1999. His grand father made an application for issuance of passport. His date of birth in the passport application was mentioned as 7.8.1987. The passport came to be issued mentioning the date of his birth as 7.8.1987. The said passport expired in the year 2004 and it came to be renewed. The respondent issued renewed passport bearing No.E 8794463. The petitioner came to know that his date of birth was incorrectly mentioned in the passport application by his grand father as 7.8.1987 instead of 7.8.1986. He submitted an application to the Passport Oﬃcer, Hyderabad-respondent enclosing his SSC certiﬁcate issued by the Counsel for the Indian School, New Delhi and a date of birth certiﬁcate issued by Chief Registrar, Births and Deaths, Government of Karnataka. In both the certiﬁcates his date of birth is mentioned as 7.8.1986. His application came to be rejected by the respondent directing him to submit a declaratory order from the competent civil court for correction of his date of birth in the passport. The rejection order is under challenge in this writ petition. 2. Notice before admission came to be ordered on 17.6.2008. Despite service of notice respondent did not chose to enter appearance either in person or through counsel. 3. Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and perused the record. 4. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the petitioner presented an application for correction of his date of birth in the passport and produced SSC certiﬁcate issued by Counsel for the Indian School, New Delhi and the date of birth certiﬁcate issued by Chief Registrar, Births and Deaths, Government of Karnataka and therefore the respondent was not justiﬁed in ignoring the certiﬁcates and directing the petitioner to get declaratory order from the competent civil court. He further submits that the case of the petitioner squarely falls within the guidelines issued by Government of India Circular dated 18.4.2001. He also placed reliance on the judgment of this Court in MADDI RAJA SHEKAR REDDY V. REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER[1]. 5. In ALI IMRAN V. REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER, SECUNDERABAD[2] 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. 6. In the case on hand the petitioner produced SSC certiﬁcate issued by Counsel for the Indian School, New Delhi and the date of birth certiﬁcate issued by Chief Registrar, Births and Deaths, Government of Karnataka. Therefore, the claim of the petitioner is well supported and squarely falls in clause (a) of the circular dated 18.4.2001 issued by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. 7. Following the judgment of this court in ALI IMRAN V. REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER, SECUNDERABAD [3], this writ petition is disposed of directing the respondent to re-consider the application of the petitioner along with SSC certiﬁcate issued by Counsel for the Indian School, New Delhi and the date of birth certiﬁcate issued by Chief Registrar, Births and Deaths, Government of Karnataka and to pass appropriate orders within three weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No costs. 8th August, 2008. (B.Seshasayana Reddy,J) tnb ASSISTANT REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{TRK} THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO.12410 OF 2008 8T H AUGUST 2008 [1] 2007 ALD (6) 156 [2] 2003(4) ALT 474 [3] 2003(4) ALT 474