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Judgment
By way of this petition, the petitioner seeks the following reliefs :
i.That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to command and direct the respondents to correct the date of birth of the petitioner in its passport and re- issue new passport with corrected details mentioning the date of birth of the petitioner as 19/12/2000.
ii.Any other relief, which this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper, may also kindly be granted to the petitioner, in the interest of justice.
Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner applied for and was issued a passport by Respondent No. 3. Subsequently, the petitioner discovered a clerical error in the passport, which reflected his date of birth as 19/12/1999 instead of the correct date i.e. 19/12/2000. In accordance with the Ministry of External Affairs guidelines, the petitioner applied for re-issuance of the passport and submitted valid supporting proofs, including the Birth Certificate and Class 10th Marksheet (Annexure P/4). However, the Respondent authorities rejected and returned the application without passing a reasoned order, merely endorsing a remark that the date of birth mismatched. Aggrieved by this unreasoned, arbitrary and illegal action, which violates the petitioner's fundamental rights, the petitioner has preferred the present writ petition.
Mr. Sourabh Sahu, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the date of birth of the petitioner has been erroneously recorded as 19.12.1999 in the passport, whereas his actual date of birth is 19.12.2000 as reflected in his Birth Certificate and Class 10th Marksheet. He further submits that due to this discrepancy, the petitioner is facing severe hardship and seeks appropriate correction/re-issuance of the passport.
On the other hand, Mr. Ramakant Mishra, learned DSGI appearing for the Respondent-UOI submits that if the petitioner submits a fresh application along with all relevant supporting public documents in accordance with the prescribed rules and guidelines of the Ministry of External Affairs, the same shall be considered and decided in accordance with law by the competent authority within a stipulated timeframe.
Heard learned counsel for the parties and also perused the documents annexed with the petition.
Admittedly, the date of birth recorded in the Birth Certificate (Annexure P/4) of the petitioner, a public document generally accepted in all circumstances, is ‘19.12.2000’, which remains undisputed till date. However, the date of birth erroneously reflected in the passport is 19.12.1999.
Considering the aforesaid aspect of the matter and in light of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Jigya Yadav (Minor) (Through Guardian/Father Hari Singh) Vs. Central Board of Secondary Education and others) [(2021) 7 SCC 535], the petitioner shall be at liberty to file a fresh application for rectification/correction of his date of birth before the concerned authorities. On such application being filed, the concerned authorities shall consider and decide the same in accordance with law, keeping in view that the date of birth recorded in the Birth Certificate of the petitioner is ‘19.12.2000’.
The competent authority shall consider the application and pass an appropriate reasoned order thereon within a period of 60 days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.
With the aforesaid observations/directions, the Writ Petition is finally disposed of.