The Delhi High Court has disposed of an appeal filed by the Union of India against a Single Judge’s order regarding the issuance of a passport with a revised date of birth. The Division Bench allowed the respondent to retain her newly issued passport reflecting her date of birth as August 5, 1996, subject to the condition that she applies to the municipal authorities to cancel her older birth certificate, which showed her date of birth as August 5, 1995.
Background of the Case
The respondent, Tanvika Chandran, possessed two birth certificates issued by municipal authorities. One certificate reflected her date of birth as August 5, 1995, while the other reflected it as August 5, 1996. In 1998, her parents applied for and obtained a passport for her using the August 5, 1995 date of birth.
Eighteen years later, the respondent applied for a fresh passport utilizing the August 5, 1996 date of birth, stating that her earlier passport had been lost and would have expired. The passport office rejected her application via an order dated July 23, 2018. Aggrieved by this rejection, the respondent approached the High Court through WP (C) 10615/2019. A Single Judge allowed her writ petition on October 30, 2019. The Union of India subsequently filed an appeal against this decision.
Arguments of the Parties
The passport office had based its 2018 rejection on a rule framed under the Passport Manual, stating: “The PIA shall however reject cases where the old birth certificate or other DOB documents used to obtain the first passport were issued even before the new date of birth claimed by the applicant. (Obviously, the old certificates were in existence before the new DOB of the applicant).” The authorities had offered to process the re-issuance of the passport with the 1995 date of birth, provided the applicant gave her consent.
During the appellate proceedings, Counsel for the Union of India submitted that the respondent would have to get her first date of birth certificate, which reflected the August 5, 1995 date of birth, cancelled from the municipal corporation.
Court’s Analysis
The Division Bench, comprising Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla, observed that the issue was “largely academic” as the passport office had already issued a passport to the respondent reflecting her date of birth as August 5, 1996, in compliance with the Single Judge’s earlier order.
Addressing the appellant’s submission that the older birth certificate must be cancelled by the municipal corporation, the Court observed, “We find this request to be fair.”
Decision
The Court allowed the appeal and disposed of the matter with specific directions to regularize the respondent’s records.
The Bench ruled: “We, therefore, dispose of this appeal by allowing the respondent to retain the passport issued to her reflecting her date of birth as 5 August 1996 subject to the respondent applying to the concerned municipal authorities for cancellation of the date of birth certificate reflecting her date of birth as 5 August 1995.”
The Court directed the respondent to move the requisite application for cancellation within two weeks. Furthermore, the Court directed the concerned municipal authorities to dispose of the application within 12 weeks of submission and, “if it is found meritorious, to cancel the earlier date of birth certificate issued to the respondent.”
Finally, the Court ordered that once the cancellation is obtained, the respondent must forthwith communicate the fact to the passport office. The Court closed the appeal without examining any other merits of the matter.
- Case Title: Union of India & Anr v. Tanvika Chandran
- Case Number: LPA 789/2019 & CM APPL. 55660/2019
