High Court of Punjab and HaryanaCWP/10890/2025disposed of

Navpreet Kaur v. Union Of India And Others

2025-08-25Mr. Justice Harsh Bunger13 pages

IN T THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJ JAB AND HARYANA ARH AT CHANDIGA CWP-10890-2025 (O&M) Date of decision :25.08.2025 ) NAVPREET T KAUR

...Petitioner

Versus

UNION OF

CORAM:

INDIA AND OTHERS

...Respondents

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HA ARSH BUNGER Present :

HARSH BU Mr. Navkiran Singh, Advocate for the petitioner.

Ms. Shreyansi Verma, Central for the respondents.

Government Counsel UNGER, J.

Prayer in the present writ petition, filed under Articles s 226/227 of the Constitution of India, is for issuance of a writ in the nature e of certiorar ri, for setting aside the order da ated 27.03.2025 (Annexure P-9) ) passed by t the learned Joint Secretary and d Chief Passport Officer, New w Delhi (resp pondent No.2); whereby, an a appeal filed by the petitioner r challenging revocation of her passport by the Regional Passport Officer, , Chandigarh (respondent No.3) has been reje ected.

Briefly, the marriage of the p etitioner is stated to have been n solemnized with Dr. Siddharth Narula, in th he year, 2000 and from the said d wedlock, a d daughter was born. It is stated th hat prior to petitioner's marriage e with Dr. S iddharth Narula, she was hold ding a passport No. P514726;

;

however; in n the year-2005; the petitioner ob btained another passport bearing g No. F1754 413, wherein, the name of her spouse was recorded as s 'Dr. Siddha rth Narula'.

2.1 It transpires from the impugned order dated 27.03.2025 (Annexure P-9) that the petitioner and Dr. Siddharth Narula, got divorce from each other vide divorce decree dated 02.04.2011 issued by the District Judge, Chandigarh.

2.2 Apparently, the petitioner got her passport renewed/re-issued i.e. Passport No. M9280984 (issued on 26.05.2015 with date of expiry as 25.05.2025). In the said Passport No. M9280984, as against the name of spouse, the name of `Siddharth Narula' was mentioned, whereas, as per the own pleaded case of the petitioner, she had already got divorce from Sh. Siddharth Narula in the year 2011.

2.3 It appears that on 19.11.2023, the petitioner got re-married to one Sh. Neeraj Kumar and thereafter, vide an application dated 12.03.2024 (Annexure P-2), the petitioner applied to the passport authorities for seeking changein the name of her spouse from `Dr. Siddharth Narula' to `Sh. Neeraj Kumar'. A similar request was again made vide application dated 18.12.2024 (Annexure P-3).

2.4 It further transpires from the impugned order dated 27.03.2025 (Annexure P-9) that the passport office had received a complaint against the petitioner from Sh. Neeraj Kumar (second husband of the petitioner) through Superintendent, NRI Affairs, Govt. of Punjab; stating that the petitioner had obtained passport with spouse name as 'Siddharth Narula', although petitioner had got divorce from him in the year 2011. 2.5 Evidently, the Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh, issued a Show Cause Notice dated 21.01.2025 (Annexure P-4) to the petitioner calling upon her to provide suitable explanation regarding suppression of material information in respect of her marital status.

2.6 In response to the afore-said Show Cause Notice dated 21.01.2025 (Annexure P-4), the petitioner submitted an explanation by way of self-declaration (Annexure P-5), the relevant extract of which reads as under :- "SELF DECLARATION I, Navpreet Kaur W/o Neeraj Kumar R/o H.No.5642, Sector 38 West, Chandigarh, 160036 do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under :-

1. That, I have applied for my Passport under reissue category vide File Number CH2070497172624 dated 18/12/2024.

2. That, as per your Letter/SCN/FCI/329340272/24 dated 19/12/2024, I have been asked to visit RPO Chandigarh along with explanation regarding correct Marital Status as applicant already got divorced in 2011 but got Passport in 2015 with Divorced Husband name.

3. That, I am holder of First Passport Number P514726 issued at Chandigarh dated 26.08.1993 and after marriage I got my Second Passport Number F1754413 from Chandigarh dated 05.01.2005 with my spouse name endorsed as Siddharth Narula but due to different temperament I got divorced from him on 02.04.2011. (Divorce Deed attached).

4. That, I got the services of Passport renewal from some unknown travel agent in the year 2015 and got Passport Number M9280984 issued from Chandigarh dated 26.05.2015 with my previous spouse name Siddharth Narula whereas I got divorced from him in the year 2011 and the Passport needs to be applied under Divorced category.

5. That, I feel extremely sorry for this mistake which happened due to lack of awareness of Passport Rules and in future such kind of mistakes will never happen from my end.

6. That, I got married with Neeraj Kumar dated 19.11.2023 and to get his name endorsed on my Passport, I have applied for it under file number CH2070497172624 dated 18.12.2024 and request you to please issue me Passport at the earliest possible with my spouse name as Neeraj Kumar.

7. That, I feel extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused to the passport authorities.

8. That, I am ready to pay penalty if any that RPO may deem fit."

2.7 Thereafter, the Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh passed an order dated 29.01.2025 (Annexure P-6) whereby, the passport of the petitioner was revoked under Section 10(3)(b) of the Passports Act, 1967 (for short `the 1967 Act') by observing that "the passport was obtained by the suppression/wrong information provided by the holder." 2.8 Feeling aggrieved against the afore-said order dated 29.01.2025 (Annexure P-6), the petitioner preferred an appeal before the Appellate Authority (respondent No.2); however, the same has also been dismissed vide impugned order dated 27.03.2025 (Annexure P-9) by observing as under :- "8. And now, therefore, having gone through all the records and in the light of the full facts and circumstances of the case, I, as the Appellate Authority, as per the provisions u/s 11 of the Passports Act, 1967, decide the appeal as under : (i) Appellant i.e. Ms. Navpreet Kaur obtained passport No.M9280984 dated 26.05.2015 in lieu of passport No.F1754413 dated 05.01.2005. These two passports bear the appellant's spouse name as Shri Siddharth Narula.

(ii) Appellant got divorced from Shri Siddharth Narula in the year 2011, vide Divorce decree dated 02.04.2011 issued by District Judge, Chandigarh.

(iii) It is evident that appellant obtained passport No.M9280984 dated 26.05.2015 from PO by suppressing her marital status and mentioning her divorced husband's name as spouse name in passport despite dissolution of their marriage in the year 2011. (iv) Since the appellant's passport has been revoked by PO, it cannot be re-used for travel. Therefore, there is no point of reviewing the decision of PO. Appellant is directed to surrender the said passport to PO. (v) Keeping in view the appellant's occupational needs, appellant may apply for passport application afresh which will be processed by PO on the basis of documents submitted by the appellant subject to clear verification report regarding these documents including additional verification, if any, by Police or by other authorities regarding the credentials of the documents. (vi) Appeal is disposed of with above directions." 2.9 In the afore-mentioned circumstances, the present writ petition has been filed before this Court, for the relief, as noticed here-in-above. 3.

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clarifying that the mention of his name in the 2015 passport of the petitioner, was only a bona fide oversight. He has categorically stated as under :- 1.

That I Dr. Siddharth Narula bearing Pan No. ADCPN0028L was earlier wedded to Dr. Navpreet Kaur, and we had mutually sought and obtained a divorce in the year 2011. 2.

That due to an oversight, she applied for a passport in May,2015, bearing Passport No. M9280984.

That in the said passport, she had inadvertently, due to a bona fide oversight, mentioned my name as her husband.

That she has never misused this status at any point, nor has she sought any benefit from this oversight.

That I bear no grievance if this bona fide oversight is rectified, and I have no objection to her having stated my name as her spouse, although we were divorced earlier.

The above mentioned information is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh

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order dated 29.01.2025 (Annexure P-6) and order dated 27.03.2025 (Annexure P-9), respectively. Therefore, both the aforesaid orders i.e. order dated 29.01.2025 (Annexure P-6) and order dated 27.03.2025 (Annexure P-9), are set aside. 14.

It is noticeable that the petitioner's passport No.M9280984 stands expired on 25.05.2025, accordingly, respondents are directed to issue

a new passport to her with correct particulars, which may be supplied by the petitioner to the concerned Passport authority. 14.1 Let the fresh passport be issued to the petitioner with correct particulars within a period of three weeks from the date the petitioner supplies the required particulars to the Passport authorities. 15.

The instant writ petition stands disposed of, in the afore-stated terms.

16.

All pending applications (if any) shall also stand closed. August 25, 2025 (HARSH BUNGER) gurpreet JUDGE Whether speaking/reasoned:

Yes/No Whether reportable:

Yes/No