Paardarshita Public Welfare ... vs Union Of India & Ors.
2016 Latest Caselaw 3397 Del

*      IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
                                                Pronounced on: May 09, 2016
+      W.P.(C) 1699/2015
       PAARDARSHITA PUBLIC
       WELFARE FOUNDATION (NGO)                                 ..... Petitioner
                    Through: Mr. Harkrishan                  Das Nijhawan
                    (Petitioner-in-person)
               Versus
       UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                      ..... Respondents
                     Through: Mrs.Bharathi Raju, CGSC for R-1&2.
                     Ms.Nidhi Raman, Standing Counsel with Ms.Isha
                     Khanna,Adv. for R-3&6.
                     Ms.Sonia Mathur, Standing Counsel with
                     Mr.Abhishek Chauhan, Mr.Rakshit Thakur, Advs.
                     for R-5/CBI.
       CORAM:
       HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
       HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JAYANT NATH
                                 JUDGMENT

: Ms.G. ROHINI, CHIEF JUSTICE

1. This petition by way of public interest petition has been filed alleging that passports are being issued to Indian citizens and foreigners with non- existent addresses on the basis of false police verification reports of Special Branch of Delhi Police. Thus, a direction is sought to the National Investigating Agency and Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate into the alleged illegal practices.

2. To substantiate the allegation of issuance of passports to the persons with non-existent addresses, the petitioner made a specific reference to the passports issued to 5 persons, namely, Malla Sumitra, Santosh, Paru

Sharma, Manish Dubey and Barkha Yadav. The copies of the passports issued to them have been annexed to the writ petition and it is pleaded that the addresses recorded in the said passports are non-existing.

3. In the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent No.1/Union of India, Ministry of External Affairs it is pleaded that the passport applications are being processed as per the guidelines/administrative instructions issued by the Ministry of External Affairs as codified in the Passport Manual. Further, Passport Sewa Project (PSP) has been launched since July, 2012 under which all applications are required to be registered online on the passport portal 'www.passportindia.gov.in' and online appointment has to be sought for submission of the applications. Such submission under PSP model includes the biometric data taken by the office including the capturing photograph and finger prints of each applicant. Subsequently, the documents furnished by the applicant are physically examined by the verifying officers/Government staff and thereafter the file would be examined by the Granting Officer, who takes a decision for granting of the passport after checking the data base for the passport history of the applicant. It is also explained that under Section 5(2) of the Passport Act, 1967, the Passport Authority may make such an inquiry as deemed necessary prior to issuance of a passport. Such inquiries are made through the police authorities of the respective State Governments or Union Territory, as the case may be. As per the standard procedure, in the course of police verification, the Enquiry Officer has to visit the residence of the applicant and verify the personal particular as furnished by the applicant. The supporting documents provided by the applicant are also examined by the Enquiry Officer. In case the Enquiry Officer finds any document

furnished by the applicant to be suspicious or dubious, the same is required to be mentioned in the police verification report. The Enquiry Officer is also supposed to take the signatures of 2 references given by the applicant which provides a mechanism to recheck the details furnished by the applicant.

4. It is further added that though the possibility of an applicant to apply with a fake/forged document or a genuine document obtained fraudulently cannot be ruled out completely and it is also possible for an applicant to furnish a proof of Indian citizenship such as Election Identity Card, either fake/forged or obtained fraudulently, and sometimes such documents may escape the attention of the Verification Officer, all such cases cannot be treated as cases processed with malafide intention. In all cases where it has come to the notice of the Competent Authority that they have been processed by any official of the Passport Office by flouting any of the rules or processed deliberately on the basis of forged documents, appropriate action as per the rules is taken against the erring official, apart from taking steps for impounding/revocation of the passport.

5. It is also added that among more than one crore passports that were issued in the year 2014, very few instances of the applicants who furnished wrong information or the passports having been issued on the basis of fake documents have come to the notice of the department and in all such cases, appropriate action has been taken. It is further stated that the issuance of passports and the checks in the system being followed by the Department is in tune with the rules/guidelines laid down by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) for issuance of passports.

6. Regarding the five instances mentioned in the writ petition, it is explained that the passports that were issued in all the said 5 cases were based on clear police verification reports. However, the passports dispatched to the applicants were returned undelivered to the RPO, Delhi with an endorsement 'no such person is there'. Thus, though the passports were issued, the same were not misused. However, further enquiry has been made into all the 5 cases and it was found that no inquiry was conducted by the police authorities before issuing the police verification reports. Therefore, concerned Enquiry Officer has been suspended and a departmental inquiry is initiated by the Competent Authority. That apart, the said passports were revoked by the Passport Office after issuing a show cause notice to all the 5 applicants. The Ministry of External Affairs has sensitized all State Police Authorities to be careful in future and to ensure that all Enquiry Officers follow the standard procedure for the police verification. The Ministry has been scrupulously implementing the PSP model introduced in June, 2012 according to which personal appearance of the applicant as well as obtaining biometric data by the office are made mandatory. Thus, the authenticity of the passport issued has been enhanced. It is also explained that all necessary and feasible measures have been incorporated by the Ministry to ensure the security and authenticity of the passports issued and the mechanism is constantly being reviewed and improved.

7. On behalf of the respondents No.3 and 6 (Government of NCT of Delhi and Commissioner of Delhi Police), the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Branch filed a counter affidavit on 13.04.2015 stating that the passports to the 5 persons mentioned in the writ petition were dispatched

by post from the Regional Passport Office, Delhi to the addresses given by the respective applicants, however, all the said passports were returned undelivered as the addressees could not be traced by the postman. A vigilance enquiry was immediately conducted which revealed that addresses of all the said applicants and that of their witnesses did not exist and were fake. The applicants and their references also could not be traced and when they were contacted on the mobile numbers furnished by them, there was no response. During the course of enquiry, Mr.Dashrath Singh, ASI who had submitted clear police verification reports in respect of the said 5 passport applicants had stated that he had not visited the addressees to carry out physical verification but he had verified their personal particular forms after asking the applicants to come to 'Kamal cinema' where he had collected the documents in support of their IDs and residential proofs. He admitted that he had not conducted the physical verification of the addresses as mandated in the Special Branch Manual pertaining to the verification of the passport applicants. In the circumstances, the said verification officer, Dashrath Singh has been placed under suspension on 04.03.2015 and a departmental enquiry has been ordered on 10.03.2015 against him for flouting the instructions prescribed for police verification of passports. The matter has also been referred to the DCP/South District for appropriate action against the applicants and other erring persons, if any. That apart, a show cause notice has also been issued to the Inspector Shailendra Kumar, Inspector South Zone/Special Branch for his failure to supervise the staff working with him properly which amounts to gross negligence in discharge of the official duties. It is further explained that on receipt of the complaint made by the petitioner about the false police verification reports, an enquiry was

immediately initiated and the Regional Passport Officer directed re- verification of the personal particulars, including nationality and antecedents, furnished in some of the cases.

8. The authorized representative of the petitioner society appeared in person and reiterated the averments in the writ petition. We have also heard the learned counsels appearing for the respondents.

9. As is evident from the counter affidavits filed on behalf of the respondents supported by the material placed on record, sufficient statutory measures are in place to check issuance of passports on the basis of fake/forged documents. However, as admitted by the respondents themselves, there are still certain lacunae in the system which may result in issuance of passports to Indian citizens/foreigners on the basis of false/forged documents. It is, therefore, necessary for the respondent No.1 to revisit the existing mechanism for verification of the credentials of the applicants before issuing the passports and to take steps for exploring more effective procedure.

10. It is no doubt true that in all the 5 instances mentioned in the writ petition, the addresses furnished by the applicants are found to be incorrect and the vigilance enquiry has also revealed that there are lapses on the part of the concerned officials in carrying out physical verification of the particulars/references furnished by the applicants. However, the fact remains that the passports were not issued to the applicants and thus, the misuse of the passports could be avoided. It is sought to be explained by the learned counsels appearing for the respondents that as a matter of policy, the passports are delivered to the applicants by post only so as to crosscheck the addresses and also to ensure that it reaches the right person at the address

provided by them. We have also taken note of the fact that the 5 passports in question have been revoked and disciplinary proceedings have also been initiated against the erring officials, who failed to adhere to the procedure prescribed for issuance of the police verification reports. In these circumstance, we do not consider it necessary to direct an investigation by the respondents No.4 and 5 as sought by the petitioner much less to grant the other reliefs prayed for in the petition. No case is made out to substantiate the allegations made against the officials of the respondents No.1 to 3 and 6 much less regarding the alleged scam of issuance of illegal passports to foreigners and Indian citizens.

11. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondents No.1 to 3 and 6 to ensure strict compliance of the existing procedure for verification of the credentials of the applicants before issuing the passports at every stage of the processing of the applications. Keeping in view that passport is a very important document which enables a person to travel abroad and the lapses, if any, in following the statutory requirements for issuance of passport may result in serious consequences, stringent approach be adopted while dealing with the erring officials.

12. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of.

Crl.M.A.No.18630/2015

13. This is an application filed under Section 340 of Cr.P.C. to take action against the respondents No.3 and 6 alleging that they had knowingly and deliberately made false statements in the counter affidavits filed in this petition.

14. Be listed on 25.07.2016 to enable the respondents to file their response.

15. The Registry to segregate this application and maintain a separate file.

CHIEF JUSTICE

JAYANT NATH, J MAY 09, 2016 'anb'