Sulaiman Kunju M v. The Secretary

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM

PRESENT:

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE K.VINOD CHANDRAN TUESDAY, THE 30TH DAY OF JUNE 2015/9TH ASHADHA, 1937 WP(C).No.9496 of 2015 (J) ------------------------------------- PETITIONER:

------------------- SULAIMAN KUNJU.M,S/O.MUHAMMED HANEEFA, AGED 52 YEARS,BUGLA VETTA PUTHEN VEEDU, KOTTOOR,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM.

BY ADV.SRI.T.K.ANANDA KRISHNAN RESPONDENT'S:

------------------------- 1.

THE SECRETARY,MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, SOUTH BLOCK,GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, NEW DELHI - 110 001.

2.

THE REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER, TRIVANDRUM PASSPORT OFFICE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - 695 001.

R1 & R2 BY SRI.N.NAGARESH,ASSISTANT SOLICITOR GENERAL OF INDIA THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 30-06-2015, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:

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WP(C).No.9496 of 2015 (J) ------------------------------------- APPENDIX PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS:

------------------------------------ EXT.P1:TRUE COPY OF THE RELEVANT PAGES OF THE PASSPORT BEARING NO.W.575541 OF THE PETITIONER.

EXT.P2:TRUE COPY OF THE S.S.L.C.BOOK.

EXT.P3:TRUE COPY OF THE CIRCULAR DATED 29.10.2007 ISSUED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT.

RESPONDENT'S EXHIBITS:

NIL --------------------------------------- //TRUE COPY// P.S. TO JUDGE pk

K. VINOD CHANDRAN, J.

------------------------------------------ W.P.(C) No. 9496 of 2015 (J) ------------------------------------------ Dated this the 30th day of June, 2015

J U D G M E N T

The petitioner seeks correction of his date of birth in the passport already issued to the petitioner. 2.

The petitioner admittedly had been issued a passport first in 1984 and renewed more than once. The petitioner's claim is that as per Ext.P2 SSLC certificate, the petitioner's date of birth is 25.05.1962. He seeks that the same may be corrected in the passport, which reveals the date of birth to be 25.05.1959.

3.

This Court in W.P.(C) No. 9073/2015 and connected cases, by judgment dated 23.06.2015, held that the correction of date of birth in passport, after many number of years would not be possible, especially finding that the passport discloses the identity of the citizen in his travels, residence and employment abroad and the date of birth declared thereon cannot be easily corrected for the asking.

W.P.(C) No. 9496/2015 -24.

As to the reliance placed on Ext.P2, it was held that the date of birth shown in the SSLC certificate is also based on a declaration made by either the petitioner or his parents and there can be no reliance placed on that when the petitioner had declared a different date of birth before the P.I.A. and had obtained a passport with a date, which had been acted upon by many others.

5.

In fact, the present controversy arose when the petitioner applied for re-issue of passport, again declaring the date of birth as 25.5.1959 and then on verification there was an adverse report from the Police pointing out a different year of birth.

6.

In such circumstance, no correction of date of birth can be made. The petitioner's prayer for correction of date of birth is rejected.

Writ petition is dismissed. No costs.

Sd/- K.VINOD CHANDRAN, JUDGE jjj