Revision as of 20:13, 11 May 2017

The number of countries that holders of Indian and Pakistani passports can visit without a visa ; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 8, 2015

The legal position

Lawsuit no ground for revoking passport: HC

TIMESNEWSNETWORK

The Times of India 2013/08/07

New Delhi: Even if a criminal case is pending against a person the passport office can’t as a rule revoke his passport, Delhi high court has clarified. The court said a passport can be impounded only in “appropriate cases” where cogent reasons have to be given in writing by the RPO.

Accepting the plea of a man, facing trial in a matrimonial case lodged by his wife, Justice V K Jain directed the passport authority to release his passport which was revoked on the ground of criminal charges against him. The court, however, directed him not to leave the country without its permission and also asked him to attend the ongoing criminal proceedings.

Allowing Manish Kumar Mittal's plea against the passport authority, Justice Jain noted, “The order passed by the Regional Passport Officer directing the petitioner (Mittal) to surrender his passport as well as the order passed by the appellate authority are, hereby, set aside. The respondents (authorities) are directed to release the passport of the petitioner to him forthwith.” The court also asked the RPO to pass an order within eight weeks after giving an opportunity to Mittal to make his stand clear under provisions of the Passports Act.

Only magistrate, not passport authority, can curb travel: HC

Rosy Sequeira, Dec 1, 2016: The Times of India

Passport authority has no power to curb travel: HC

The Bombay high court said that the passport authority did not have the right to decide whether an accused in a criminal case could travel abroad or not. “That right vests with a magistrate who alone can impose conditions if an application is made seeking permission to travel abroad,“ said a bench of Justice Vidyasagar Kanade and Justice Nutan Sardessai.

The court heard a petition filed by Samip Rajani (28), a flight purser with Jet Airways, who challenged the renewal of his passport only for a year as opposed to 10 years. His petition said as a result he cannot get his flight schedule for overseas travel and will lose considerable remuneration.

Rajani was booked for assaulting a traffic policeman and for criminal intimidation and driving dangerously . Rajani, in turn, filed a counter-complaint against the cop for allegedly demanding a bribe and physically assaulting him on refusal. Rajani was released on bail.

On his plea, the Mulund magistrate had directed that his passport be renewed. Instead of 10 years, though, it was renewed for a year. Rajani then moved high court. The judges said whenever a criminal complaint is pending against an applicant who wishes to go abroad, the magistrate alone has the jurisdiction to impose the condition regarding his right to travel.

Also, if a magistrate is satisfied that an applicant should not be permitted, he can reject the application.However, when an application is made for renewal, the passport authority has to adhere to provisions of the Passport Act.

The judges said the Centre's notification which allows passports to be renewed for a year was earlier held by the high court as ambiguous.

The bench said it is common knowledge that some countries do not grant visa unless a passport is valid for more than six months.

It said the Supreme Court has already held that the right to travel for business or service is a part of one's fundamental rights subject to reasonable restrictions imposed under the Passport Act and Rules.

“In the present case, the applicant as a flight purser has to travel abroad and there is no possibility of him absconding since he has to return along with the flight,“ the bench said.

The judges directed the regional passport office to renew his passport for 10 years expeditiously and within three weeks.

The judges also clarified that Rajani will have to apply to the magistrate in order to obtain permission to travel and the magistrate may impose conditions deemed fit and proper.

Demand for and issuance of passports

Demand for passports: region-wise

Passport demand highest from backward UP districts

The Times of India

Kartikeya | TNN

Mumbai: The largest demand for passports in the country is coming not from metros like Mumbai or Delhi but from 48 of India’s most backward districts in eastern and central Uttar Pradesh.

In 2009, the regional passport office (RPO) at Lucknow — which caters to districts like Gonda, Faizabad, Azamgarh and Jaunpur — received an average 1,403 applications daily for fresh passports. The staggering figure put it ahead of RPOs in Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab and the metros which have traditionally been the hubs of passport demand.

Immigrant workers from UP’s districts like Mirzapur, Pratapgarh, Gorakhpur, Ballia etc are known to flock to more developed states in search of livelihood. In states like Maharashtra some regional parties have even violently opposed the migration. But the huge demand for passports from the same poorer districts indicates that they are looking for jobs abroad as well.

In 2009, Uttar Pradesh also overtook Kerala and sent maximum number of workers abroad. This would also explain why the officials at Lucknow RPO find themselves buried under a huge heap of passport applications.

Data maintained by union ministry of overseas Indian affairs shows that until a few years ago barely a few thousand workers from UP sought emigration clearance each year to work overseas. In 2005, the number stood at just 22,558 workers. But thanks to a growing demand for construction workers in the Middle East, the numbers started going up dramatically since 2007.

Consequently, in 2009 more than 1,25,000 workers from UP received emigration clearance from the government, edging ahead of Kerala’s 1,19,000 workers. Apart from the Lucknow RPO, passport offices at Hyderabad (1,330 applications every day), Bangalore (1,226) and Ahmedabad (1,220) saw a huge demand. Overall 37 RPOs across the country received more than five million passport applications in 2009 at an average of 21,089 each day.

Issuance of passports:region-wise

2013:Number of passports issued by regional passport offices

The Times of India

Feb 06 2015

It's not any of the Regional Passport Offices in India's four largest metros -Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai -that issued the highest number of passports in 2013. The Hyderabad RTO topped with 5.9 lakh passports issued. It was followed by Bangalore and Lucknow. This trend might be linked to the higher number of IT companies in the south than in the north of the country.Lucknow, being the capital of India's most populous state, would be catering to a much larger population than other RTOs. In 2013, passport offices across the country received 69.7 lakh applications and issued 68.1 lakh passports

Passports issued: 2013-15

The Times of India, Jan 18 2016

A demographic profile of those who applied for Indian passports in 2015: by age, gender and education; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Jan 18 2016

1.14cr passports issued since 13 but verification the bane

While 6.33 crore Indians now hold valid passports, up considerably from 5.19 crore in 2013, the issuance of passport continues to suffer from delay in police verification, latest figures compiled by the foreign ministry show. In fact, the average allIndia time taken for police verification has now reduced to 34 days (it was 49 in 2013), but that's still way above the ministry's desired period of 21 days.

According to foreign ministry joint secretary and chief passport officer Muktesh Pardeshi, 61% of all passport verifications were completed within 21 days.

“Today , on a pan-India basis, 68% of normal passports which require police verification are issued within a month. If police verification period is excluded, then 94% of normal passports are issued within 21 days,“ he said. Interestingly , the newly created state of Telangana has emerged as the best-performing state by completing police verification in eight days. It is followed by Andhra Pradesh (12 days), Chandigarh (12 days), Goa (12 days) and Delhi (14 days).

Accord ing to the official, in the case of Tatkal applications, 34% passports were issued on the day of submission of papers. Overall, 87% were issued passports within three days.

In addition to the 77 Pass port Seva Kendras (PSKs) currently operational in public private partnership PPP) mode, the ministry has set up eight additional PSKs in Agartala, Aizawl, Gangtok, Imphal, Kalaburagi, Karimnagar, Darbhanga and Shillong, providing extended reach to passport applicants in the northeast. Ten more PSKs are likely to come up in 2016.

The data compiled by the ministry also reveals that Uttar Pradesh now accounts for the maximum number of passport applications. It is followed by Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Together they account for more than 51% of the applications.

Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Ahmedabad receive the maximum number of applications in that order.Malappuram, Pune, Thane and Khozhikode are on top among the smaller towns and cities. The maximum number of Indian passport applications received abroad were in the UAE, followed by Saudi Arabia, the US, Kuwait and Qatar.

Passports and the concerned number of visa-free destinations: India and the world

See graphic.

Country-wise list of passports, with number of visa-free destinations; The Times of India, Feb 5, 2017

Simplification of procedures

2016: See graphic

2016: Simplification of procedures; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, January 28, 2016

Name on passport

Father's name not needed: HC

The Times of India, May 21 2016

Dad's name not needed for passport: HC

Siding with a divorcee who was abandoned by her husband on the birth of their daughter, the Delhi high court said the mother's name was sufficient for a child to apply for a passport, reports Abhinav Garg. Only in case of a legal necessity can the father's name be sought, Justice Manmohan said. By citing the father's name in the application form, the petitioner argued, her daughter would be forced “to alter not only her name, but also her identity that she had been using since her birth ie as daughter of the petitioner No.1 rather than her biological father who had abandoned her at the time of her birth“.

Mother’s name is sufficient in some cases: HC

The Times of India, May 21 2016

Abhinav Garg

Single woman can be a natural guardian as well as a parent

The Delhi high court has held that in certain cases, mother's name is sufficient for a child to apply for a passport, especially because a single woman can be a natural guardian as well as a parent.

Justice Manmohan directed the Regional Passport Office to accept the application form of the girl child of a single parent without insisting upon mentioning her father's name.

The court ruled that authorities “can insist upon the name of the biological father in the passport only if it is a requirement in law, like standing instructions, manuals, etc. In the absence of any provision making it mandatory to mention the name of one's biological father in the passport, the respondents cannot insist upon the same“.

Justice Manmohan observed, “This court also takes judicial notice of the fact that families of single parents are on the increase due to various reasons like unwed mothers, sex workers, surrogate mothers, rape survivors, children abando ned by father and also children born through IVF technology .“

He said just because the software of the passport office didn't accept a single parent's applications, it cannot become a legal requirement.

The HC also pointed out that on two previous occasions, in 2005 and 2011, the girl was issued a passport without her father's name, which “makes it evident that the said requirement is not a legal necessity , but only a procedural formality , which cannot be the basis of rejecting her case“.

The court saw merit in the argument of the petitioner that if the authorities didn't alter their stand, her daughter would be compelled “to alter not only her name, but also her identity that she had been using since her birth--i.e. as the daughter of the petitioner No.1 rather than her biological father who had abandoned her at the time of her birth“. The father had refused to accept the child because he did not want a girl, the petition added.

In her plea, the woman sought a reissue of her daughter's passport without her father's name being mentioned in the application. She informed the HC that being a divorcee, she had raised the child as a single parent since her birth after the biological father completely abdicated his responsibilities towards the child.

Saying she was forced to move court after passport authorities insisted on the father's name, the woman argued it violated her daughter's rights to determine her name and identity . She also pointed out that the entire record of her daughter, including her educational certificates and the Aadhaar card did not bear the name of her father.

Defending its format, the RPO said the computerised passport application form had a column with regard to father's name under the heading “family details“. The government's lawyer said the format makes it compulsory for the girl applicant to fill the form and mention these details. The RPO cited a clause in the rule book that said “parents' name not to be deleted from passport as a consequence of divorce“ and argued it is a well-recognised principle of law that the relationship between parents and children does not get dissolved, except in cases of valid adoption.

Women can retain maiden names

Women can keep maiden names in passport: Modi, April 14, 2017: The Times of India  Indian women will not have to change their names on passports after marriage. Also, they don't have to produce a marriage or divorce certificate to get a passport. In addition, they can give either their father's or mother's name on the passport, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, addressing businesswomen at an event in Mumbai. “From now onwards, women will not have to change their names in the passport after their marriage,“ Modi told the Indian Merchants Chambers' ladies wing over video conferencing. TNN

Passport papers can be self-attested: 2016

The Times of India, Dec 24 2016 

The government made it easier for single mothers, adopted children and sadhussanyasis to apply for passports while reducing the paperwork and documentation required for several categories of applicants.

The new rules were announced by MoS for external affairs Gen V K Singh (retd) after he inaugurated the ministry's `Twitter Sewa' on Friday . The ministry said that Aadhaare-Aadhaar cards would now be accepted as proof of date of birth and digitally signed marriage certificates as proof of marriage. This would override Passport Rules, 1980, which says applicants born on or after January 26, 1989 have to submit birth certificates.

The list of documents accepted as birth date proof also includes PAN card, voter ID, school leaving certificate and driving licence. Getting a passport will be easier for single parents too.The MEA says, “The online passport application form requires the applicant to provide the name of father or mother or legal guardian, i.e. only one parent... This would enable single parents to apply ...for their children and to issue passports where name of father or mother is not required to be printed at the request of the applicant“. Separated or divorced applicants will not have to mention the name of herhis spouse in the application form either.Divorced applicants would not have to provide even the divorce decree.

Sadhus and sanyasis -who have renounced their families and recognise only their spiritual gurus as family -will now be able to apply for passports with the name of their spiritual guru in place of their biological parents' names. The caveat here is they should have at least one one public document such as election photo identity card issued by the Election Commission of India, PAN card, Aadhaar card etc wherein the name of the guru has been recorded against the column for parents' names.

Orphaned children or those born out of wedlock -who do not have proof of date of birth -can now give a declaration from the head of the orphanage or child care home instead. For children adopted within the country , there is no longer a need to get an adopted certificate, just an undertaking from the parent would do.Documents now would only need self-attestation, and on plain paper.

Annexures in passport applications have been brought down from 15 to 9.

The new rules have been formulated based on the report of a three-member committee comprising MEA and ministry of women and child development, which was set up to examine various issues pertaining to passport applications where motherchild has insisted that the name of the father should not be mentioned in the passport and also relating to passport issues to children with single parent and to adopted children.

Problems at airport

Information mismatch between passport and visa

Passport- visa tips

Saurabh Sinha, Spouse's name not on passport? Carry proof of marriage, Oct 13 2016 : The Times of India

Their bags are packed, they're ready to go.But they can't leave on a jet plane just yet. Indian travellers often commit mistakes while planning international trips, due to which they are not allowed to board flights or deported from their destination.

A Delhi couple heading to Dubai on honeymoon were not allowed to board the plane at IGI airport on Wednesday as the woman's visa identified her as “wife of “ x, while her passport, issued before marriage, had her name alone. The couple managed to fly out later, but travel industry veterans said, in such cases, it's best to carry proof of the marriage. If you are married and the name of your partner is not on the passport, remember to carry a marriage certificate along. In case you don't have it, carry an affidavit or marriage photographs along with some other proof,“ said Sharat Dhall, president of travel portal Yatra.com. “If someone's passport has an emigration clearance required (ECR) stamp, they need to get emigration check done prior to departure,“ he added.

According to leading travel agents, this is just one of several mistakes that result in last-minute heartbreaks for travellers. “Almost on a daily basis, we have people returning from airports or being deported due to common mistakes,“ Anil Kalsi of Delhibased Ambey Travels said.

One of them, he said, was not checking the transit visa requirements before booking flights with layovers. “People look for lowest fares and end up buying tickets without keeping in mind transit visa requirements. For example, people flying from India to the US via Canada, or India to Canada via the US, buy tickets without realising that they would require a transit visa for Canada and the US,“ he said, “Such people are sent back from origin airports.“

If you're flying from India to New Zealand or Fiji via Australia, you will need an Australian transit visa, Kalsi added.

Another mistake is ignoring the validity of passports, especially while travelling to countries that offer visa on arrival. “It is common to see tourists being deported from Bali (Indonesia offers visa on arrival) as they land with passports due to expire in less than six months (from date of return) and are denied visa,“ Kalsi said.

Dhall of Yatra.com added, “Passengers must ensure their visa and passport details match in terms of name, passport validity , details and date etc. Travel dates and visa dates should be matched particularly for Schengen visa.“