Abdul Salam alias Abdul Hakkim v. Union of India and others

## **IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM** ## **PRESENT** ## **THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE N.NAGARESH** **FRIDAY, THE 7[TH] DAY OF JUNE 2024 / 17TH JYAISHTA, 1946 WP(C) NO. 3934 OF 2024** ## **PETITIONER:** - **ABDUL SALAM ALIAS ABDUL HAKKIM (CORRECTED AND SUBSTITUTED)** **AGED 55 YEARS, S/O. SAINABABEEVI, RESIDING AT THANNIVILAVEEDU CHATHANPADU, POTHENCODE P.O. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN – 695 584.** **[PETITIONER'S NAME 'ABDUL SALAM ALIAS ABDUL HAKKIM' IS CORRECTED AND SUBSTITUTED AS ABDUL HAKKIM, S/O ABDUL SALAM AS PER ORDER DATED 03.06.2024 IN I.A NO.2 OF 2024 IN W.P.(C) NO.3934 OF 2024]** ## **BY ADV HARISH GOPINATH** ## **RESPONDENTS:** - **1 UNION OF INDIA REPRESENTED BY SECRETARY EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 74B SOUTH BLOCK,** - **NEW DELHI, PIN – 110 011.** - **2 THE REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER SNSM BUILDING, KARALKADA JUNCTION PETTAH P.O, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN – 695 024.** - **3 THE PASSPORT OFFICER SNSM BUILDING, KARALKADA JUNCTION PETTAH P.O, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN – 695 024.** **BY ADV ACHUTH KRISHNAN R, CENTRAL GOVERNMENT COUNSEL** **THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 07.06.2024, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:** W.P.(C) No.3934/2024 : 2 : ## **N. NAGARESH, J.** ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ## W.P.(C) No.3934 of 2024 ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` _Dated this the 7[th] day of June, 2024_ ## **J U D G M E N T** ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The petitioner seeks to direct the 3[rd] respondentPassport Officer to consider Ext.P7 application for correction of date of birth and place of birth of the petitioner in the passport, based on contents of Exts.P3 to P5 along with other documents. 2. The petitioner states that due to some clerical error, the date of birth of the petitioner was mistakenly recorded as 24.05.1968 in his passport. The place of birth was also erroneously recorded as Chathenpadu. 3. The petitioner submitted an application for correction of date of birth in the year 2019. The 3[rd] respondent required the petitioner to correct the date of birth W.P.(C) No.3934/2024 : 3 : in SSLC Book and other documents first. The petitioner states that necessary corrections were made in the SSLC Book in the year 2020 as per Ext.P3. The entries in the birth certificate are correct and the date of birth is correctly shown as 13.09.1972. In Ext.P6 Aadhaar Card also, the date of birth is recorded as 13.09.1972. However, the petitioner's request for correction of date of birth and place of birth stands rejected by the respondents. 4. The petitioner stated that he was employed abroad in Saudi Arabia from 1992 to 2018 and during that time, it was not possible for the petitioner to get the date of birth corrected in passport. After returning to India in the year 2018, the petitioner took expeditious steps to submit application for correction of date of birth. Therefore, there is no delay in making application. 5. The Deputy Solicitor General of India resisted the writ petition on behalf of the Union of India filing a statement dated 15.01.2024. It is stated that the passport has been issued with date of birth as 24.05.1968 and place of birth as W.P.(C) No.3934/2024 : 4 : Chathanpadu. Now, the petitioner is claiming that his actual date of birth is 13.09.1972. There is a difference of four years between the dates of birth. He had been holding passports for more than 32 years and his initial passport has been reissued three times. If the documents, birth certificate and SSLC Book now furnished in support of date of birth are authentic, it appears that the documents submitted by him for obtaining his initial passport are not genuine and he has used the passport to grab unentitled benefits for nearly 30 years. There is sufficient reason to believe that the petitioner is now requesting for change of date of birth conveniently to deceive the Government of India, foreign governments and employers. 6. The petitioner himself has mentioned in the writ petition that he had been working in Saudi Arabia for 1992 to 2018. He had used the ante-dated date of birth in his passport for obtaining employment abroad and is now trying to overcome the upper age ceilings for obtaining employment or other purposes by date of birth correction. In his W.P.(C) No.3934/2024 : 5 : numerous travels abroad and employment abroad, he was fully aware that he is holding passports with date of birth as 24.05.1968. The contention that he could not get the entry corrected as the passport was reissued from abroad is not acceptable. 7. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Central Government Counsel representing respondents 1 to 3. 8. The petitioner had been holding passport for 32 years. The petitioner's passport was reissued three times. The petitioner is seeking to change his date of birth in the passport after more than 30 years. The petitioner has been working in Saudi Arabia since 1992 to 2018. The present application for correction of date of birth in the passport raises doubts about his _bona fide_ . 9. A Division Bench of this Court considered the case of correction of date of birth in passports in the judgment in _**Vasu Sasi v. Union of India and others** [2020 SCC Online Ker 2947]_ . Taking into consideration the W.P.(C) No.3934/2024 : 6 : compendium of instructions/guidelines issued by the Government in the year 2018, the Division Bench held that Clause 6.4 thereof makes it clear that the passport issuing authority shall reject the case where the old birth certificate or the other date of birth documents which were used to obtain the first passport, were issued even before the new date of birth claimed by the applicant. 10. In the judgment in _**Jayakumar v. The Regional Passport Officer** [2015 (3) KLT 158]_ , this Court held as follows: 21. The consequences which could occur on a drastic change made to one of such essential identities, herein being the date of birth, is perceivable but not all possibilities easily discernible. For one it could be a termination of employment at the age of superannuation as per the laws of the foreign country. Legion and numerous are the decisions of this Court and the Hon'ble Supreme Court that, to correct the date of birth in service records, the claim should be made within a reasonable time from the initial appointment. No such claim can be entertained far later and not at all, at the fag end. This is so, since the date of birth declared entails certain consequences, upon which the affairs of other employees and the employer itself are arranged. If it be so for employment within the country, could we in todays world of comity of nations deny or decline such inevitable consequences of employment abroad? The employer abroad would have taken a W.P.(C) No.3934/2024 : 7 : citizen of this country into his employment on the basis of the Passport and on the basis of the age disclosed therein. If the same is changed after a very many number of years, that too to the extent of reducing the age, from 5 to 7 years; then the consequence would be severe for such employer and the sanctity of the Passport issued by this country would be seriously jeopardised. 22. The Passport issued by the sovereign State is the property of the State under Section 17 of the Passports Act, 1967. The details entered therein cannot be lightly interfered with, that too after very 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; that too based on a document which was available with the applicant when the original declaration was made. It is not proper for this court to sit lightly in this jurisdiction and issue orders without proper satisfaction of an illegality or injustice having been occasioned. The consequence if any suffered by the petitioners are all their own making, which they never sought to rectify in all these years when they declared themselves to be of a particular age, by showing their Passports as the authenticated identity of their citizenship in India. Taking into consideration the facts of the case and the law laid down by this Court, the petitioner's request to correct his date of birth is not justified. The writ petition is therefore dismissed. Sd/- **N. NAGARESH, JUDGE** aks/06.06.2024 W.P.(C) No.3934/2024 : 8 : ## **APPENDIX OF WP(C) 3934/2024** ## **PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS** **Exhibit P1 TRUE COPY OF THE RELEVANT PAGES OF THE PASSPORT BEARING NO. V4451539 VALID FROM 27.12.2021 TO 26.12.2031 ISSUED BY THE REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM.** - **Exhibit P2 TRUE COPY OF THE PRINT OUT OF THE ONLINE APPOINTMENT RECEIPT FOR 02.05.2019 ISSUED BY THE 3RDRESPONDENT TO THE PETITIONER.** - **Exhibit P3 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER OF THE JOINT COMMISSIONER FOR GOVERNMENT EXAMINATION, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DATED 21.10.2020.** - **Exhibit P4 TRUE COPY OF THE SSLC BOOK WITH DULY CORRECTED DATE OF BIRTH AND PLACE OF BIRTH ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY, BOARD OF PUBLIC EXAMINATION, GOVERNMENT OF KERALA.** - **Exhibit P5 TRUE COPY OF THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY THE REGISTRAR OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM CORPORATION DATED 03.09.2019.** - **Exhibit P6 TRUE COPY OF THE AADHAR CARD BEARING NO. 585079227268 ISSUED IN THE NAME OF THE PETITIONER.** - **Exhibit P7 TRUE COPY OF THE REPRESENTATION SUBMITTED BY THE PETITIONER FOR CORRECTION OF DATE OF BIRTH AND PLACE OF BIRTH IN HIS PASSPORT BEFORE THE 3RD RESPONDENT.** - **Exhibit P8 True copy of the letter dated 17.10.2019 issued by the office of the 3rd respondent to the petitioner** **Exhibit P9 True copy of the handwritten letter dated 13.11.2019 of the Headmistress of Government Higher Secondary School,Neduveli addressed to the Secretary, Pareeksha Bhavan, Poojapura** W.P.(C) No.3934/2024 : 9 : **Exhibit P10 True copy of the application dated 13.11.2019 submitted by the petitioner before the Secretary to the Commissioner for Government Examination for issue of duplicate qualification certificate Exhibit P11 True copy of the Affidavit dated 18.11.2019 sworn by the petitioner and submitted before the Secretary to the Commissioner for Government Examination Exhibit P12 True copy of the Chalan for Rs. 350 dated 23.10.2019 paid by the petitioner to the Secretary to the Commissioner for Government Examination**