This story is from July 14, 2015

Court order must for correcting DOB on passport: HC

The high court on Monday reversed the ruling of a single bench ruling, which held that no court order was required to correct a mistake in date of birth (DOB) on passport, despite such a stipulation in the passport manual.
Court order must for correcting DOB on passport: HC
KOCHI: The high court on Monday reversed the ruling of a single bench ruling, which held that no court order was required to correct a mistake in date of birth (DOB) on passport, despite such a stipulation in the passport manual.
A division bench comprising chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A M Shaffique gave the ruling while considering two appeals filed by the central government challenging the ruling by the single bench on October 16 last year.

The single bench had declared as void and inoperative a clause in passport manual (Paragraph 5 (C) of chapter 8 of Passport Manual, 2010) that restricted the passport issuing authority (PIA) from correcting mistake in DOB without a court order if the difference was more than two years and if the original documents were not available. It was pointed out by the single bench that if correction was liable to be effected on genuine reasons, necessarily it applies in all circumstances, irrespective of whether the difference was beyond two years or less.
Questioning the decision before the division bench, assistant solicitor general N Nagaresh submitted that in cases where previous files have been destroyed, PIA could exercise discretion only with a court order if the difference in DOB was not more than two years.
Setting aside the single bench ruling, the division bench said nothing prevents applicants from approaching the civil court and getting a declaration of their legal status regarding date of birth.
The division bench further said the PIA did not have the advantage of verifying whether it is a clerical or technical error as these were cases where original records were unavailable. In cases where records were available, the passport manual, through clause A and B, permits the PIA to make corrections after perusing the documents, the court pointed out.
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