Centre, passport authorities get Punjab and Haryana High Court rap for 'bureaucratic attitude'

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, March 4

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has rapped the Union of India and other respondent-authorities for total “non-application of mind” and “bureaucratic attitude” following refusal to change the names of an applicant’s parents in the passport at the time of its renewal.

The names mentioned in the initial passport were based on an earlier school certificate, while the petitioner-applicant was seeking the change on the basis of subsequent certificates and his parents’ passport. The respondents’ stand in the matter was that the names could not be changed as the certificate on the basis of which the names were mentioned had not been corrected.

The admonition by Justice Sudhir Mittal came on a petition filed by Lovish Bajaj against the Union of India and other respondents. The Bench, during the course of hearing, was told that the passport issued to the petitioner in 2011 mentioned the father’s name as Kuldeep Rai and mother’s as Sangita Bajaj.

In the application for reissuance of the passport after its expiry, the father’s name was mentioned as ‘Kuldeep Rai Bajaj’ and mother’s name as ‘Sangita Kumari’. The petitioner’s Class X and XII certificates, along with the passports of the parents, were annexed with the application in an attempt to substantiate his plea.

Responding to the contentions raised by the petitioner before the court, the respondents in their reply submitted that the names mentioned in the earlier passport were on the basis of middle school certificate. The certificate had not been got corrected till date. As such, the request could not be granted.

“The reply suffers from a total non-application of mind and reflects the bureaucratic attitude adopted by the respondents. After passing the middle school examination, the petitioner has now passed Class X and XII examinations also, wherein the correct names of the parents have been mentioned. Their passports also support the case of the petitioner,” Justice Mittal asserted.

Allowing the petition, Justice Mittal directed one of the respondents to take relevant documents into consideration and reissue the passport with the corrected parents’ name. “In case, the same is not possible, the reason for rejection of the request be communicated to the petitioner,” asserted Justice Mittal and set four-week deadline for doing the needful.

Change in names of parents

The authorities refused to change the names of an applicant’s parents in the passport at the time of its renewal. They said the names could not be changed as the certificate on the basis of which the names were mentioned had not been corrected.