Madras High Court
Kamalini (Minor) vs The Regional Passport Officer on 30 April, 2015
Author: M.Sathyanarayanan
Bench: M.Sathyanarayanan
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS DATED: 30.04.2015 CORAM: THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.SATHYANARAYANAN W.P.Nos.13182 and 13217 of 2015 Kamalini (Minor) D/o. V.Malar @ Jothi Malar Rep by her mother and Guardian V.Malar @ Jothi Malar .. Petitioner in W.P.No.13182 of 2015 Niveeini (Minor) D/o. V.Malar @ Jothi Malar Rep by her mother and Guardian V.Malar @ Jothi Malar .. Petitioner in W.P.No.13217 of 2015 Vs. The Regional Passport Officer, Rayala Towers, IV Floor, 158, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002. .. Respondents in both W.Ps. Prayer in W.P.No.13182 of 2015 : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondent to reissue petitioner's passport bearing No.H9320165 after duly renewing the same by acting on application reference No.15-1002483705. Prayer in W.P.No.13217 of 2015 : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondent to reissue petitioner's passport bearing No.H9320488 after duly renewing the same by acting on application reference No.15-1002483389. For Petitioner : Mr.Shakesphere for M/s.E.Shenbagavalli For Respondent : Mr.Su.Srinivasan, Asst. Solicitor General C O M M O N O R D E R
By consent, these writ petitions are taken up for final disposal.
2. The petitioners are minor daughters of the deponent to the affidavit and according to her, out of marriage with one Sankar Marimuthu, she begotten two children namely, Kamalini, petitioner in W.P.No.13182 of 2015 and Nivedini, petitioner in W.P.No.13217 of 2015. The petitioner would further state that the marriage was dissolved on 08.11.2011 in O.P.No.490 of 2011 on the file of the I Additional Family Court, Chennai and as per the said order, permanent custody of the minor children was handed over to her and the original passports of the minor children remained with the father of the children. The petitioner would further state that she intend to take the minor children on vacation to foreign country and since the original passports expired on 21.03.2015, she applied to the respondent for issue of new passport and also complied with all procedural formalities. The petitioner was called for interview by the Passport Seva Kendra on 23.03.2015 and she was informed that unless there is a specific direction from the Court, it may not be possible to issue new passport after renewing the earlier one and it is also not possible to get consent from the biological father of the minor children and hence, the petitioner came forward to file these writ petitions.
3. Mr.Shakesphere, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners would submit that in the light of the facts and circumstances and by way of sympathetic consideration, the respondent may be directed to issue fresh passport to the writ petitioners.
4. Heard the submissions of Mr.Su.Srinivasan, learned Assistant Solicitor General, who would submit that since the consent of the biological father is required, the applications submitted for issuance of new passport could not be processed by the respondent.
5. This Court carefully considered the rival submissions and also perused the materials placed before it.
6. In B.S.Deepa v. The Regional Passport Officer, Chennai-6 and another [2015 (2) CTC 503], the petitioner therein prayed for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing the Regional Passport Officer, Chennai-6 and the Passport Seva Kendra, Chennai-45 to issue fresh passport to her daughter mentioning name of child's adoptive father/petitioner's legally wedded new husband and this Court, after considering various judgments, has observed as follows:
35. The cases of children surrendered to child care homes or abandoned by their biological parents, do not pose great difficulty. In such cases, the first identity itself is born, only when the Court passes an order approving local or inter-country adoption. Since such adoptions are now well regulated by the earliest decision of the Supreme Court in Lakshmi Kant Pandey vs. Union of India [AIR 1984 SC 469] and the various guidelines issued by the Government of India, the Courts passing orders in terms of the provisions of the Guardians and Wards Act themselves issue appropriate directions to the Passport Office, to include the names of the adoptive parents in the passport issued to the child. But, as stated earlier, the children in such cases happen to be those abandoned by their biological parents. Therefore, there is no chance of any discrepancy between different types of certificates. But, cases such as the one on hand, pose a lot of difficulties, as I have pointed out earlier. While the Courts are certainly obliged to take care of the immediate interests of these children by giving certain directions to the Passport Office, the Courts cannot overlook the long-term needs and rights of these children. For instance, the right of a child to inherit the estate of its biological father, will get defeated by a direction to effect correction of entries in the statutory records.
36. Therefore, I am of the view that the Ministry of External Affairs is obliged to come up with innovative steps and measures to resolve problems of this nature. The Passport Manual may perhaps have to be amended suitably to incorporate additional columns in the applications for the issue of passports. Apart from the columns where the names of the biological parents are to be indicated, the application form may also contain additional columns where the names of the step-parents could be indicated, wherever applicable. This will reduce or even eliminate the possibility of any discrepancy between the entries in the Birth Register and the School Records or other records.
37. Such a step as suggested above, will also ensure that the rights guaranteed to children under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, to which India is a signatory, are protected. While it is necessary to secure a passport for the minor daughter of the petitioner at the earliest, it is also necessary to ensure that the emergent needs do not destroy the future rights of the child. Therefore, I am of the view that the writ petition could be disposed of with certain directions, both to the Union of India and to the respondents herein, so that persons similarly placed like the petitioner are not compelled to approach the Court every time for the issue of passports.
38. In view of the above, the writ petition is disposed of with the following directions:-
(1) The Ministry of External Affairs, Union of India may incorporate suitable provisions in the Passport Manual and incorporate suitable columns in the applications for the issue of passports, to enable the parties to indicate either the names of the biological parents or the names of the adoptive parents or the names of the step parents or all of them, according as the situation demands. It can be left to the will of the parties either to indicate the names of one or more of the biological parents along with the name/ names of the adoptive or step parent/parents or to indicate the names of all.
(2) In so far as the case on hand is concerned, the respondents shall issue a passport to the daughter of the petitioner, by indicating the name of R.Lakshmanan as the stepfather, in the column reserved for filling up the name of the father. The respondents are directed to issue passport within four weeks, upon the petitioner's application bearing File No.MA3067806994714 dated 10.7.2014.
7. This Court, in the light of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and in the light of the above said pronouncement, directs the respondent to consider the applications submitted on behalf of the petitioners for issuance of new passport if the papers are otherwise in order and issue new passports to the petitioners/minor daughters of the deponent of the affidavit filed in support of these writ petitions, namely V.Malar @ Jothi Malar by either incorporating the name of Shankar Marimuthu biological father of the minor children or in the alternative the name of V.Malar @ Jothi Malar as mother and natural guardian, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
8. These writ petitions are disposed of accordingly.
30.04.2015 Index : Yes / No Internet : Yes / No jvm To The Regional Passport Officer, Rayala Towers, IV Floor, 158, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
M.SATHYANARAYANAN. J jvm W.P.Nos.13182 and 13217 of 2015 30.04.2015