Kerala High Court

Muhammed Iqbal Layina Kilillath vs Union Of India on 5 April, 2022

              IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
                               PRESENT
         THE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR.S.MANIKUMAR
                                  &
          THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE MURALI PURUSHOTHAMAN
     TUESDAY, THE 5TH DAY OF APRIL 2022 / 15TH CHAITHRA, 1944
                          WA NO. 448 OF 2022
AGAINST THE   JUDGMENT IN WP(C) 3931/2021 dated 25/02/2022 OF HIGH
                           COURT OF KERALA
APPELLANT/PETITIONER:

          MUHAMMED IQBAL LAYINA KILILLATH
          AGED 53 YEARS
          S/O SHADULI MACHERI, RESIDING AT MASKAN
          NEAR PARVATHI GAS DEPO, ERIPURAM, PAYANGADI PO
          EZHOME, KANNUR DISTRICT, KERALA 670 303

          BY ADV R.SREEHARI



RESPONDENT/RESPONDENTS:

1         UNION OF INDIA
          REPRESENTED BY SECRETARY,
          MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, E BLOCK
          CENTRAL SECRETARIAT, NEW DELHI - 110001

2         THE PASSPORT OFFICER,
          SUB REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE,
          KANNUR 670001

          BY SRI.S.MANU, ASGI
          SRI.JAISHANKER V.NAIR, CGC


     THIS WRIT APPEAL HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 05.04.2022,
THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
 WA NO. 448 OF 2022               ..2..




                            JUDGMENT

S. Manikumar, CJ

Before the writ court, the writ petitioner/appellant

has sought for the following reliefs:

I) Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the 2nd respondent to consider the Petitioners request for the correction of his Name, Date of Birth and the Father's Name based on Ext P2 to P5 in the Petitioner's Passport bearing No. Z 2365772. II) To issue a direction to the 2 nd respondent to endorse the Passport and Visa details in the present Passport bearing No. Z 2365772 in the new Passport which is to be issued as per the Order of this Honble Court.

2. The short facts leading to the filing of the writ

petition are as follows:-

According to the petitioner, the petitioner is an NRI

and a holder of Ext.P1 passport valid till 22.09.2022. The

petitioner's name is "Muhammed Iqbal Layina Kilillath", WA NO. 448 OF 2022 ..3..

his date of birth is "24.01.1968" and his father's name is

"Machery Shaduli". But in Ext.P1 passport, the name was

wrongly entered as "Mohamed Iqbal Shahad Ali", his date

of birth as "01.01.1962" and his father's name as

"Machairy Shahad Ali". As per Ext.P2 Birth Certificate,

Ext.P3 School Certificate, Ext.P4 Aadhaar card and Ext.P5

PAN card, the name of the petitioner is "Muhammed Iqbal

Layina Kilillath", the date of birth is "24.01.1968" and

father's name is "Machery Shaduli".

The petitioner contends that as per the law abroad, a

person can work upto 60 years in service. So as of now

the petitioner will lose 6 years of service, if the date of

birth is not corrected. His children are still studying there

and without a job, the petitioner and his family cannot

continue to stay there. Hence W.P.(C) No.3931 of 2021 has

filed to issue a direction to correct the name, date of birth

and father's name in Ext.P1 passport.

WA NO. 448 OF 2022 ..4..

3. After considering the materials on record and

submissions, writ court by judgment dated 25.02.2022

dismissed the writ petition as hereunder:

The petitioner through the instant writ petition is asking for correction of the passport regarding his name, date of birth and father's name and in support thereof, has relied upon copies of birth certificate and admission register in this Writ Petition. Had there been a request for change of the date of birth, direction could have been issued to the passport authorities in terms of the circular dated 22.09.2016. But, here corrections are multifarious. The petitioner is required to obtain a decree by leading direct cogent evidence in proof thereof. Thus this Court is for the time being precluded to issue such direction.

Being aggrieved, the instant writ appeal is filed.

4. Referring to Ext.P6 application submitted before

the Passport Officer (2nd respondent) to re-issue the

passport with changes in name of the applicant, date of

birth and name of the applicant's father and Ext.P7

communication dated 08.05.2020, addressed to the WA NO. 448 OF 2022 ..5..

appellant requiring to produce certain documents,

Sri.R.Sreehari, the learned Counsel for the appellant

submitted that the writ court went wrong in directing the

petitioner/appellant to approach the civil court, as the

application is still pending consideration before the

concerned authority.

5. Mr.Jaishanker V. Nair, learned Central Government

Counsel appearing for the respondents submitted that the

issue is already covered by a decision of this Court in Vasu

Sasi v. Union of India and Others [2020 (4) KHC 405]

and therefore no interference is sought for in the

impugned judgment.

6. Heard the learned Counsel for the parties and

perused the materials on records.

7. This Court in Vasu Sasi (surpa) in paragraph '9'

held so:

9. Therefore, the sole question now comes up for consideration is whether the learned WA NO. 448 OF 2022 ..6..

Single Judge was right in dismissing the writ petition upholding the act of the Passport Officer in returning the application for correction. In fact, the issue in question was considered by a learned Single Judge of this Court in Jayakumar and Others v. Regional Passport Officer, Tvm (2015 (3) KHC 763: 2015 (3) KLT 158 : ILR 2015 (3) Ker.597: AIR 2015 Ker.237), wherein it was held that the passport is a solemn document and the details entered therein cannot be lightly interfered with, that too after many years without any sustainable cause and without any explanation as to why initially such a wrong declaration was made and why now a change is sought for. Taking into account the provisions of the manual existing then, in the matter of correction of date of birth ranging from 5 years to 7 years and the submission of application after a long lapse, it was held that no writ can be issued for correction of date of birth in passports, having unexplained and undue delay. The case at hand is not different, since the delay of a long number of years is not explained at all. Even though the passport in question is seen issued for a period of ten years from 2014, it is evident that previously the writ petitioner was WA NO. 448 OF 2022 ..7..

holding passport No.E8532073 dated 25/03/2004 issued at Dubai. This also means that the writ petitioner was holding a passport prior to the one specified above, may be for an earlier period of 10 years which was renewed at Dubai. Therefore, it is explicit that there is an unexplained delay of several years, and the writ petitioner himself knew that it cannot be explained, which may be the reason for not specifying the date of original issue of passport, a mandatory requirement to consider an application as per the office memorandums supra.

8. Indisputedly, the petitioner/appellant is stated to

have made Ext.P6 application to the Passport Officer (2 nd

respondent) for re-issuance of the passport with the

details as stated supra.

9. Responding to the above, the Regional Passport

Officer, Kozhikode sent a letter dated 08.05.2020,

requiring the petitioner/appellant to produce certain

documents. In this regard, Ext.P7 dated 08.05.2020 is

relevant and is extracted hereunder:

 WA NO. 448 OF 2022                            ..8..


                          GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
                      MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE, KOZHIKODE

Tel No.04952768869, 04952769139 REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE Fax No.04952765470 KOZHIKODE, ERANHIPALAM POST E-mail:[email protected] KOZHIKODE-673006, KERALA Website: www.passportindia.gov.in File No.KO1072784191920 Letter Ref.No:OBJ/309929235/20

Dated May 8,2020

To, MUHAMMED IQBAL LAYINA KILILLATH S/O SHADULI MACHERY, MASKAN, NEAR PARVATHI GAS DEPO, ERIPURAM, PAYANGADI PO, EZHOME, KANNUR-670303 KERALA, INDIA TEL NO:9567789773

Subject: Objection(s) with reference to your Passport Application Number- KO1072784191920

Dear sir,

This is in reference to your Passport application number KO1072784191920 dated 23/01/2020.

On processing of the Application form, the following shortcomings came to notice:-

Your date of birth differs in old passports and application. Please furnish Birth certificate in correct date of birth. If you live in the vicinity of Passport Office Kozhikode or have been specifically asked to appear in person, you could choose to submit the required documents to the Enquiry Officer at the Passport Office on between 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM from Monday to Friday (Except Wednesday) 10 days after lock down period.

Yours Sincerely,

For Regional Passport Officer, Kozhikode

ENQUIRY TIMINGS OF REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE KOZHIKODE IS BETWEEN 9:30 AM TO 1:00 PM FROM MONDAY WA NO. 448 OF 2022 ..9..

TO FRIDAY (EXCEPT WEDNESDAY) • This is a computer system generated letter. Hence there is no need for a physical signature.

• All references to the documents to be submitted given in this letter are as per the new passport application form and instruction booklet. Toll Free No:1800-258-1800

10. As rightly contended by the learned Counsel for

the petitioner/appellant that, when the application for re-

issuance of passport as stated supra is pending on the files

of the Passport Officer (2nd respondent), writ court ought

to have directed the said authority to pass appropriate

orders, in accordance with the statutory provisions, Rules

and Regulations framed, instead of driving the appellant to

approach the civil court.

11. In the light of the above discussion, this Court is

inclined to set aside the impugned judgment, directing the

appellant to approach the civil court.

12. The Passport Officer, Sub Regional Passport