INASU. T.P. Vs. THE REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner applied to the respondent during 2017 for issue of a passport. In the application preferred by the petitioner in this connection, he disclosed that his date of birth is 25/2/1951. The School Admission Register is the document produced by the petitioner along with the application to prove his date of birth. In fact, the petitioner had obtained a passport in the year 1986 on the basis of a declaration that he was born on 1/11/1951 and has also obtained reissue of the said passport during 1996. The petitioner, however, did not disclose the issue of the said passport in the application preferred during 2017. The application preferred by the petitioner for issue of fresh passport has not been processed by the respondent. The writ petition was filed, in the circumstances, alleging that the application is not being processed for want of birth certificate of the petitioner. According to the petitioner, his birth has not been registered and therefore, he is unable to produce the birth certificate. Ext.P4 certificate issued by the panchayat has been produced by the petitioner in the writ petition to establish that his date of birth has not been registered under the relevant statute. The case of the petitioner is that in the circumstances, the respondent was not justified in refusing to process the application preferred by the petitioner for issue of fresh passport. The petitioner, therefore, seeks appropriate directions in this regard, in this writ petition.

(2.) A statement has been filed on behalf of the respondent. The essence of the contentions raised by the respondent in the statement is that the attempt of the petitioner is to get a new passport with a different date of birth; that in so far as the petitioner was holding a passport for almost 30 years with a different date of birth and in so far as the petitioner does not offer any explanation for having obtained the earlier passport with a different date of birth, and for having not applied for correction of the mistake in the passport as regards the date of birth, the application now preferred by petitioner to obtain a new passport with a different date of birth cannot be treated as a genuine one.

(3.) Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Assistant Solicitor General of India.