DEEP CHANDRA HARBOLA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This hearing has been done through hybrid mode (physical and virtual hearing).

(2.) The Petitioner has filed this petition seeing directions for amending the place of birth in his passport, issued by the Regional Passport Office, Delhi.

(3.) The Petitioner is the holder of the passport bearing No. H9634228, which is valid from 22 nd March, 2010 to 21st March, 2020. At the time when he had applied for his passport, the said passport was issued with his place of birth being shown as 'Delhi'. The case of the Petitioner is that he did not realise that there was a mistake in the place of birth mentioned in the passport. Sometime in 2013, when the Petitioner is stated to have decided to travel abroad for the first time, he realised that the place of birth on his passport was incorrect. The Petitioner applied on 28th June 2013, seeking correction of his place of birth in the passport, before the Regional Passport Office, Delhi, however he was asked to produce a birth certificate under Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, from the place he was born. Thereafter, the Petitioner re-applied for the issue of the said passport with the rectified place of birth on 26th November 2015, on the strength of the birth certificate issued by the Office of the Registrar of Births and Death, Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare, Government of Uttaranchal on 9th June 2014. The passport authorities, however, have refused to change the place of birth of the Petitioner vide letter dated 29th December, 2016, without giving any reasons for the same. Hence the present petition has been filed.