Lok Sabha Question No. 98 (STARRED), answered on 2017-02-08
Subject: Modification in Rules for Passport Issuance
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: SURESH KODIKUNNIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.98 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.02.2017

## MODIFICATION IN RULES FOR PASSPORT ISSUANCE

- *98.   SHRI KODIKUNNIL SURESH:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether rules for obtaining passports have been eased/revised for various categories and if so, the details thereof along with its benefit to the people;
- (b) whether the orphaned children have been allowed to furnish a letter  confirming  their  date  of  birth  from  the  head  of  the orphanage centre for obtaining passports and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the measures taken to address possible discrepancies in date of birth under the revised guidelines; and
- (d) the manner  in  which the Government  proposes  to  plug loopholes  and  check  people  from  making  passport  illegally using these rules?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRIMATI SUSHMA SWARAJ)

- (a) to (d) A statement is laid on the table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a)  TO (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 98 REGARDING 'MODIFICATION IN RULES FOR PASSPORT ISSUANCE' FOR ANSWER ON 08.02.2017

(a) Yes. In order to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issue of passport, the Ministry of External Affairs has taken a number of steps in the realm of passport policy to ease the process of issue of passports. The details of these steps are given below:-

## A. Documents in support of proof of Date of Birth

As  per  the  extant  statutory  provisions  of  the  Passport  Rules,  1980,  all  the applicants  born  on  or  after  26/01/1989,  in  order  to  get  a  passport,  had  to,  hitherto, mandatorily submit the Birth Certificate as the proof of Date of Birth (DOB). It has now been decided that all applicants of passports can submit any one of the following documents as the proof of DOB while submitting the passport application:

- (i) Birth  Certificate  (BC)  issued  by  the  Registrar  of  Births  &  Deaths  or  the Municipal Corporation or any other prescribed authority whosoever has been empowered under the Registration of Birth & Deaths Act, 1969 to register the birth of a child born in India;
- (ii) Transfer/School  leaving/Matriculation  Certificate  issued  by  the  school  last attended/recognized educational board containing the DOB of the applicant;
- (iii)   PAN Card issued by the Income Tax Department with the DOB of applicant;
- (iv) Aadhaar Card/E-Aadhaar having the DOB of applicant;
- (v) Copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant (only in respect of Government  servants)  or  the  Pay  Pension  Order  (in  respect  of  retired Government Servants), duly attested/certified by the officer/in-charge of the Administration  of  the  concerned  Ministry/Department  of  the  applicant, having his DOB;
- (vi) Driving  license  issued  by  the  Transport  Department  of  concerned  State Government, having the DOB of applicant;
- (vii)   Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India having the DOB of applicant;
- (viii)   Policy  Bond  issued  by  the  Public  Life  Insurance  Corporations/Companies having the DOB of the holder of the insurance policy.

## B. Other Changes:

- (i) The online passport application form now requires the applicant to provide the name of father or mother or legal guardian, i.e., only one parent and not both.  This  would  enable  single  parents  to  apply  for  passports  for  their children and to also issue passports where the name of either the father or the mother is not required to be printed at the request of the applicant.
- (ii) The total number of Annexes prescribed in the Passport Rule, 1980, has been brought down to 9 from the present 15. Annexes A, C, D, E, J, and K have been removed and certain Annexes have been merged.
- (iii)   All the annexes that are required to be given by the applicants would be in the  form  of  a  self  declaration  on  a  plain  paper.  No  attestation/swearing by/before  any  Notary/Executive  Magistrate/First  Class  Judicial  Magistrate would be henceforth necessary.
- (iv) Married applicants would not be required to provide the erstwhile Annexure K or any marriage certificate.
- (v) The passport application form does not require the applicant to provide the name  of  her/his  spouse  in  case  of  separated  or  divorced  persons.  Such applicants for passports would not be required to provide even the Divorce Decree.
- (vi) In case of children not born out of wedlock, the applicant for the passport of such  children  should  submit  only  extant  Annexure  C  while  submitting  the passport application.
- (vii)   In  case  of  issue  of  passport  to  in-country  domestically  adopted  children, submission of the registered adoption deed would no longer be required. In the  absence  of  any  deed  to  this  effect,  the  passport  applicant  may  give  a declaration on a plain paper confirming the adoption.
- (vii)   Government  servants,  who  are  not  able  to  obtain  the  Identity  Certificate (extant  Annexure-A)/  No-Objection  Certificate  (extant  Annexure-G)  from their concerned employer and intend to get the passport on urgent basis can now get the passport by submitting a self-declaration in extant Annexure-'H' that  he/she has given prior  Intimation  Letter to his/her employer informing that  he/she  was  applying  for  an  ordinary  passport  to  a  Passport  Issuing Authority.
- (viii)   Sadhus/  Sanyasis  can  apply  for  a  passport  with  the  name  of  their  spiritual Guru  mentioned  in  the  passport  application  in  lieu  of  their  biological

parent(s) name(s) subject to their providing of at least one public document such as Election  Photo Identity Card  (EPIC)  issued by the Election Commission of India, PAN card, Aadhaar Card, etc wherein the name of the Guru has been recorded against the column(s) for parent(s) name(s).

GSR 1170(E) and 1171(E) dated 26.12.2016 and other executive instructions have been issued bringing into  force  these  changes  with  effect  from  26  December, 2016. All the above changes are expected to benefit the citizens of India applying for a passport.

(b) Yes.  Orphaned  children  who  do  not  have  any  proof  of  DOB  such  as  Birth Certificate or the Matriculation Certificate or the declaratory Court order, may now submit a declaration given by the Head of the Orphanage/Child Care Home on their official letter head of the organization confirming the DOB of the applicant.

(c) An  applicant  for  a  passport  has  to  submit  any  one  of  the  documents  as mentioned in (a) above as proof of Date of Birth (DOB) while submitting the passport application. The DOB mentioned in the document would be recorded in the passport. In case there is a discrepancy between the DOB previously recorded in the passport and  the  new  proof  of  DOB  submitted  by  the  applicant,  the  Passport  Issuing Authorities (PIA) have been authorized to consider the explanation of each applicant seeking change in the DOB (irrespective of the period that would have lapsed after the issue of the passport) to find the genuineness of the claim and if the PIA is satisfied with the claim and with the document(s) submitted by the applicant in support of the claim,  the  PIA  shall  accept  all  such  requests  made  by  the  applicant  to  issue  the passport with revised DOB.

(d) The process of issuance of passports under the Passport Seva Project has been made  foolproof  to  prevent  people  from  making  passport  illegally  using  these  new rules. Before granting any passport, in-person appearance is mandatory for avoiding chances of impersonation. Background check is carried out from the entire Passport database  for  duplication  and  criminality  status.  Capture  of  Biometric  data  and photograph on the spot and matching of biometric data with Aadhar database, fully integrated  since  August  2015,  also  ensures  issuance  of  the  passport  to  the  right person.  Police  Verification  of  personal  particulars  and  antecedents  of  applicants including address, wherever required, is important in the process of issue of passports.

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