AMBALIKA BANERJEE Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner contends that she was born in the year 1959 and not 1964. In the original passport granted to her and the re-issued passport, it is contended, the year of birth was erroneously depicted as 1964, whereas it should be 1959. It is submitted that the petitioner had initially produced several documents, including PAN Card, Aadhaar Card and Voters' Identity Card, which carried the wrong date of birth. Subsequently, those documents have been rectified and the petitioner produced the corrected documents before the authorities.

(2.) However, the Passport Authorities are insisting upon production of the Birth Certificate of the petitioner, which the petitioner does not have. It is argued that since the Passport Authorities initially acted on other documents than the Birth Certificate, when the same documents have been rectified and were produced by the petitioner, the Passport Authorities have acted without jurisdiction in refusing to rectify the date of birth of the petitioner.

(3.) Learned counsel cites the judgmentsof two learned Single Judges of different High Courts. In the first, in the matter of Simran Raj @ Salma Nat vs. Union of India & Anr., rendered by the High Court at Rajasthan (Jaipur Bench), it was inter alia observed by the Court that the Passport Authorities are always within their competence to direct the parties to produce relevant documents either from the Authorities functioning under the Births and Deaths Registration Act or from the Judicial Magistrate or from the Civil Court, as the case may be. On production of corrected documents, the Passport Authorities are required immediately to carry out necessary correction in the passport.