Ajay Bhola v. Union Of India And Others

2.3 Subsequently, the petitioner was served with a Show Cause Notice dated 19.10.2023 (Annexure P-11), calling upon him to explain the nearly forty-year delay in seeking correction in the Date of Birth in the passport and the reason for travelling on a passport with an incorrect Date of Birth. The petitioner furnished a detailed reply (Annexure P-12) to the said notice.

2.4 However, vide letter dated 10.04.2024 (Annexure P-14), the passport authorities rejected the petitioner's request for issuance of a corrected passport.

5.

Per Contra, learned counsel for the respondents submits that the petitioner has held different passports for over forty years, all consistently recording his Date of Birth as 01.01.1967, and he never raised any objection at any stage despite repeatedly renewing his passport and travelling abroad on the same. It is argued that the petitioner's request for correction after such an extraordinary delay, based on a Birth Certificate registered only in 2022, is neither credible nor acceptable. The authorities issued a Show Cause Notice but the petitioner failed to offer any satisfactory explanation for the long delay or for using the allegedly incorrect Date of Birth for decades. It is contended that the rejection of the petitioner's request under Section 5(2)(c) of the Passports Act, 1967, and dismissal of his appeal under Section 11 ibid are lawful and warrant no interference.

7.

Here, it would be apposite to refer to a judgment rendered by Hon'ble Delhi High Court in "Sunita Sawhney v. Union of India and Ors.", W.P.(C) 10839 of 2015, wherein, after an exhaustive consideration of the judicial precedents governing determination of Date of Birth, it has reaffirmed the primacy of the Birth Certificate over all other documents. While doing so, the Court took note of several authoritative pronouncements, some of which are as under:- "(A) A Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana in Bansi Ram Naru Ram v. Jit Ram Gehru Ram held that as against the evidence as to age in birth registers, the entry in school records is considered to be of inferior quality; the entry in birth register was held to be much more contemporaneous than the entry in school register and therefore more reliable and inspiring greater confidence.

(C) Supreme Court in Harpal Singh v. State of Himachal Pradesh (1981) 1 SCC 560 held that since the entry in a birth and death register is made by concerned official in discharge of his official duties, it is admissible in evidence and it is not necessary to examine the author thereof.

(G) Supreme Court in Ravinder Singh Gorkhi v. State of U.P. (2006) 5 SCC 584 held that entries in births and deaths register made by a public servant in discharge of official duty are relevant and admissible in evidence.

(L) Supreme Court in CIDCO v. Vasudha Gorakhnath

Mandevlekar (2009) 7 SCC 283 held that entry in a birth register prevails over an entry in school register. It was further held that entries in a birth and death register raise a presumption of correctness.

(N) The High Court of Punjab & Haryana in Surender v. State of Haryana held that the certified copy of birth certificate is admissible in evidence without any further proof. (P) The High Court of Punjab & Haryana again in Ms. Seerat Khara v. Central Board of Secondary Education held that birth certificate being a public document is presumed to be genuine in terms of Sections 79 & 80 of the Evidence Act. "16. To me it appears:

(I) That the respondents, at the time of issuance of Passport and for recording date of birth therein, should insist upon the applicant producing the Birth Certificate and only if the applicant states that his/her birth was not registered under the law aforesaid should other proof of date of birth be accepted. Ordinarily, the applicant should be asked to resort to delayed registration procedure under Section 13 supra. (II) That in the event of the applicant, at the time of issuance of Passport states that his/her birth was not registered and subsequently, while seeking correction of date of birth, producing (a) a Birth Certificate showing registration at time of birth or soon thereafter, the respondents, if satisfied of reasons given for being earlier ignorant of registration; or (b) a Birth Certificate obtained under the delayed registration procedure, the respondents should correct the date of birth on the Passport to bring it in consonance with the date of birth on

the Birth Certificate.

(III) No application for change of date of birth on Passport, inconsistent with date of birth on Birth Certificate can be entertained. The applicant in such case should be directed to resort to procedure under Section 15 of Registration of Births & Deaths Act for correction thereof.

(IV) In no case can the respondents refuse to correct date of birth, after howsoever time the same may have been sought.

17.

Certificate may be felt at fag end of life when the holder of Passport intends to migrate to be with children abroad and when such inconsistency is found to be an impediment; (i) the judgments aforesaid having given primacy, in the matter of date of birth, to the Birth Certificate, there is no reason to refuse to correct the date of birth on Passport on production of Birth Certificate."

8.

Tested on the anvil of the aforesaid settled legal position, the facts of the present case clearly demonstrate that the petitioner has produced a Birth Certificate issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths, along with Aadhaar Card, PAN Card and other contemporaneous records, all of which uniformly record the petitioner's Date of Birth as 17.10.1967. The only document reflecting a different Date of Birth is the passport, wherein the incorrect date appears to have been carried forward from the time of initial issuance and repeated in subsequent renewals. 9.

Keeping in view the above discussion, the present writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondent-Passport Authority to reconsider the petitioner's application for correction of Date of Birth afresh.

The Passport Authorities shall verify the genuineness and authenticity of the Birth Certificate and other supporting documents produced by the petitioner, and pass an appropriate order as the circumstances may warrant. 9.1 The entire exercise shall be completed within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of the certified copy of this order.