HARMEET JAWANDHA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The matter here concerns the issuance of a passport to the minor petitioners Harmeet Jowanda and Jasmeet Jowanda and it provides a classic illustration of a closed mind causing wholly unwarranted harassment and delay by the manner in which the authorities concerned have dealt with it.

(2.) The petitioners Harmeet Jowanda and Jasmeet Jowanda as also their parents are permanent residents of Chandigarh. It was as far back as 22/07/1988 that the petitioners applied to the Regional Passport Officer, Chandigarh, for the issuance of passports to them. Their applications were forwarded by the Regional Passport Officer, Chandigarh to his counter part in Bareilly, on the ground that they were residents of Dehra Dun. What presumably led the Regional Passport Officer, Chandigarh to assume so was the fact that they were studying in a boarding school at Dehra Dun, namely; Welhem Girls School, Dehra Dun.

(3.) A reference to the relevant provisions of the Passport Act, 12967 and the rules framed thereunder would show that the jurisdiction of the Regional Passport Officer to issue passports extends to applications made by persons ordinarily residing in the territories over which he has jurisdiction. In a case like the present, where the petitioners and their parents are permanent residents of Chandigarh, the mere fact that they have been sent away to study in a boarding school, within another jurisdiction, cannot render them as being persons 'ordinarily residing' in that other jurisdiction. It would be pertinent to reproduce here the provisions of R.3 of the Passport Rules. They read as under :-