NIDHI GUPTA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners seek the following reliefs:

(2.) Petitioner No. 1, being the mother and legal guardian of petitioner No. 2, who is a minor aged 10 years, applied for issuance of a fresh passport for her son before the Regional Passport Office, Jammu on 2/6/2022. The said application has remained pending for over nine months. Petitioner No. 1 had obtained a decree of divorce by mutual consent from her former husband, Mr. Gaurav Gupta, vide judgment and order dtd. 13/9/2021 passed by the Court of the Principal Judge, Family Court, SAS Nagar, Mohali. A certified copy of the said judgment is annexed with this petition. Vide the said judgment, the exclusive custody of the minor child (petitioner No. 2) was granted to the mother (petitioner No. 1). However, despite the decree, the Regional Passport Officer, Jammu initially insisted that both parents must be physically present to process the passport application. A copy of the letter dtd. 4/7/2022 issued by respondent No. 2 is annexed herewith.

(3.) Thereafter, by way of emails dtd. 18/7/2022 and 19/7/2022, the father of petitioner No. 2 conveyed his consent to proceed with the application in his absence. Accordingly, petitioner No. 1 submitted a written request to the Regional Passport Officer, Jammu, seeking to process the pending application without mentioning the father's name. She also submitted an affidavit affirming that the father had no objection to the issuance of a passport to petitioner No. 2 without his name being mentioned.