Lok Sabha Question No. 4011 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-10
Subject: Delay in Issuing of Passports
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: E. T. MOHAMMED BASHEER, M. I. SHANAVAS, M. K. RAGHAVAN, RAMDAS CHANDRABHANJI TADAS, MEKAPATI RAJAMOHAN REDDY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4011 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.08.2016

## DELAY IN ISSUING OF PASSPORTS

4011.

SHRI E.T. MOHAMMED BASHEER:

SHRI M.I. SHANAVAS:

SHRI M.K. RAGHAVAN:

SHRI RAMDAS C. TADAS:

SHRI M. RAJA MOHAN REDDY:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of applications received and the number of passports issued in the country during the last three years, State and year-wise;
- (b) whether staff shortage and corruption have been cited as key  reasons for delay in issuance of passports and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the details of sanctioned strength and shortage of staff in passport offices and the steps taken by the Government to address the issue; and
- (d) the other reasons for delay in passport issuance and the steps   taken by the Government for its timely redressal?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]

- (a) The number of applications received and the number of passports issued in  the  country  during  the  last  three  years  is  given  at  Annexure.  (The  data  is given Passport Office-wise)
- (b) Despite  staff  shortage  in  Passport  Offices  there  has  been  considerable improvement in the last two years in getting appointments at the Passport Seva Kendras  (PSKs).  As  on  30th   June  2016,  out  of  89  PSKs,  appointments  were available in 53 PSKs within 1 calendar day, 22 PSKs within 2 to 7 days, 10 PSKs within 8 to 14 days, 2 PSKs within 15 to 21 days and 2 PSKs from 22 to 30 days. There are no reports of corruption causing any delay in getting appointments at

PSKs.  There  could  be  some  delay  in  police  verification  services  and  creative ways are being looked into to avoid these delays.

- (c) As on 1st July, 2016, there are 309 vacant posts at Non-Gazetted level and 155  posts  at  Gazetted  level  against  the  total  sanctioned  strength  of  2697  of the Central Passport Organization.    The  Government  has  taken  the  following steps to address the shortage of staff:
- (i) Indents for recruitment of Junior Passport Assistants (LDCs) and Assistant  Superintendents  (Assistants)  and  Stenographers  and  Hindi Translators have been regularly placed with the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and pro-actively followed up;
- (ii)   Regular meetings of the Departmental Promotion Committees are held to fill  up the existing vacancies at the Passport Offices through promotion and wherever necessary, with the relaxation of eligibility norms with the approval  of  Department  of  Personnel  &  Training  and  the  Union  Public Service Commission;
- (iii)  Officers are taken on deputation by the Ministry from other Government Departments as per provisions of the Recruitment Rules;
- (iv)   Data Entry Operators have been engaged as a temporary measure in lieu of vacant Non-Gazetted posts at Group 'B' and 'C' levels;
- (v)   Productivity  Linked  Incentive  Scheme  (PLIS)  has  been  implemented  to encourage better individual performance measured  against pre-set parameters. This has brought in increased efficiency and productivity per employee in the Passport Offices.
- (d) The time taken for issue of passports has been progressively reduced in recent years.  The delay, if any, is attributable to the delay in receipt of Police Verification Reports or receipt of Incomplete Police Reports compounded by an increasing demand for passports. The Ministry has taken various measures to reduce  the  time  taken  in  completion  of  Police  Verification  Report  (PVR)  for expeditious issuance of Passports. The number of days taken in PVR submission is  continuously  improving  and  constant  efforts  are  being  made  to  meet  the desired timeline of 21 days.

The  Ministry  has  recently  launched  mPassport  Police  App  for  speedy submission of Police Verification Report.  The app would facilitate the field level verification officers to directly capture the PV report into the system digitally. With  the  launch  of  this  App,  the  need  to  download  and  print  the  physical Personal  Particular  Form  and  Questionnaire  would  no  longer  be  required resulting in paperless end-to-end digital flow of the PV process, further reducing the time required for completion of PVR.

In order to further improve and liberalize Police Verification procedure for passport issuance, the Government  has decided that henceforth normal passport  applications  of  all  first  time  applicants  furnishing  Aadhaar,  Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), Permanent Account Number (PAN) Card and a selfaffidavit of non-criminality in the prescribed format  will be processed on PostPolice Verification basis, enabling faster issue of passport, without payment of any additional fees, subject to successful online validation of Aadhaar number.

To meet the growing demand of passports and to provide the Appointments  smoothly,  Passport  Melas  are  being  organised  at  the  Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs). To secure greater reach in order to provide service at the door, Passport Seva Camps are also being held in the remote and distant areas by  PSKs  under  the  supervision  of  respective  Passport  Offices.  The  details  of Passport Melas and Passport Seva Camps held in the past is given below:

## Passport Melas

| 2014         | 2014                   | 2015         | 2015                   | 2016 (till 31.07.2016)   | 2016 (till 31.07.2016)   |
|--------------|------------------------|--------------|------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
| No. of Melas | Applications Processed | No. of Melas | Applications Processed | No. of Melas             | Applications Processed   |
| 384          | 1,47,449               | 397          | 2,44,100               | 119                      | 70,173                   |

## Passport Seva Camps

| 2014         | 2014                   | 2015         | 2015                   | 2016 (till 31.07.2016)   | 2016 (till 31.07.2016)   |
|--------------|------------------------|--------------|------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
| No. of Camps | Applications Processed | No. of Camps | Applications Processed | No. of Camps             | Applications Processed   |
| 61           | 8,362                  | 124          | 40,844                 | 45                       | 18,328                   |

For securing easy appointment, the applicants are now allowed to choose any appointment date from the earliest five available dates (working days) for scheduling/rescheduling an appointment for passport related services.   Earlier, the  System  used  to  offer  only  one  available  date  to  the  applicant  for  seeking appointment  for  passport  related  services.  These  measures  have  helped  in reducing the delay in issuance of passports.

*****

## List of Applications received and Passports issued

| RPO           | Applications Received   | Applications Received   | Applications Received   | Passport Issued   | Passport Issued   | Passport Issued   |
|---------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
| RPO           | 2013                    | 2014                    | 2015                    | 2013              | 2014              | 2015              |
| Ahmedabad     | 337,195                 | 419,934                 | 557,244                 | 331,871           | 414,869           | 565,507           |
| Amritsar      | 93,581                  | 105,536                 | 132,370                 | 92,964            | 105,659           | 135,863           |
| Bangalore     | 460,547                 | 520,405                 | 644,853                 | 436,999           | 524,617           | 632,889           |
| Bareilly      | 80,430                  | 114,238                 | 146,980                 | 75,698            | 95,810            | 172,940           |
| Bhopal        | 111,988                 | 134,580                 | 157,521                 | 102,740           | 143,303           | 164,576           |
| Bhubaneswar   | 81,425                  | 93,506                  | 105,283                 | 81,406            | 94,472            | 107,853           |
| Chandigarh    | 307,806                 | 382,219                 | 463,731                 | 294,690           | 388,790           | 463,161           |
| Chennai       | 373,304                 | 394,647                 | 412,622                 | 367,353           | 388,302           | 420,641           |
| Cochin        | 287,990                 | 329,288                 | 423,045                 | 287,209           | 328,410           | 420,293           |
| Coimbatore    | 99,586                  | 115,204                 | 131,916                 | 103,312           | 116,010           | 132,156           |
| Dehradun      | 51,458                  | 72,111                  | 83,519                  | 48,016            | 72,212            | 84,314            |
| Delhi         | 414,656                 | 455,807                 | 520,002                 | 402,588           | 437,822           | 505,844           |
| Ghaziabad     | 114,387                 | 164,201                 | 209,451                 | 111,727           | 148,843           | 216,079           |
| Goa           | 46,589                  | 47,983                  | 52,882                  | 48,368            | 47,180            | 51,573            |
| Guwahati      | 63,801                  | 64,178                  | 87,385                  | 51,816            | 64,192            | 84,216            |
| Hyderabad     | 637,073                 | 717,769                 | 739,960                 | 630,457           | 687,554           | 759,503           |
| Jaipur        | 205,905                 | 258,473                 | 310,814                 | 202,331           | 250,735           | 310,976           |
| Jalandhar     | 180,665                 | 234,295                 | 284,077                 | 183,776           | 230,591           | 285,818           |
| Jammu         | 27,103                  | 32,372                  | 41,770                  | 26,637            | 29,685            | 40,351            |
| Kolkata       | 354,006                 | 445,862                 | 576,714                 | 337,232           | 408,052           | 613,122           |
| Kozhikode     | 255,448                 | 287,443                 | 291,798                 | 256,125           | 287,645           | 292,268           |
| Lucknow       | 447,345                 | 627,153                 | 887,092                 | 421,228           | 601,924           | 947,600           |
| Madurai       | 198,548                 | 233,981                 | 258,777                 | 195,196           | 239,752           | 263,627           |
| Malappuram    | 221,207                 | 248,210                 | 216,579                 | 231,907           | 245,880           | 212,243           |
| Mumbai        | 343,659                 | 385,782                 | 440,750                 | 348,485           | 384,085           | 458,264           |
| Nagpur        | 81,471                  | 99,237                  | 114,640                 | 76,571            | 92,964            | 119,458           |
| Patna         | 187,486                 | 302,363                 | 329,929                 | 169,451           | 256,488           | 365,614           |
| Pune          | 185,016                 | 225,327                 | 288,150                 | 181,985           | 214,511           | 290,321           |
| Raipur        | 30,332                  | 34,240                  | 39,791                  | 30,453            | 34,535            | 38,784            |
| Ranchi        | 64,517                  | 69,103                  | 84,339                  | 60,448            | 66,726            | 84,362            |
| Shimla        | 30,308                  | 33,270                  | 41,255                  | 28,270            | 32,697            | 42,630            |
| Srinagar      | 65,873                  | 57,298                  | 73,470                  | 60,034            | 56,413            | 72,648            |
| Surat         | 125,368                 | 138,708                 | 184,154                 | 131,283           | 136,927           | 185,973           |
| Thane         | 211,006                 | 244,576                 | 310,863                 | 201,924           | 234,431           | 324,273           |
| Trichy        | 175,477                 | 205,861                 | 207,673                 | 168,530           | 210,585           | 211,057           |
| Trivandrum    | 176,200                 | 202,721                 | 223,190                 | 175,370           | 201,439           | 222,785           |
| Visakhapatnam | 147,763                 | 201,809                 | 226,769                 | 145,241           | 194,877           | 231,841           |
| Total         | 7,276,519               | 8,699,690               | 10,301,358              | 7,099,691         | 8,468,987         | 1,05,31,423       |