GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-495
ANSWERED ON-20.07.2017
Simplification in procedure for getting
passports
495
. Shri Ranjib Biswal
Will
the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:
(a)
whether Government has decided to print personal details of individuals on
passports, both in Hindi and English;
(b)
if so, the details thereof;
(c)
whether Government proposes to reduce passport fee for children and elderly
people and if so, the details thereof; and
(d)
the other steps taken by Government to simplify the procedure for getting
passports?
ANSWER
THE
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
[GEN.
(DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]
(a)
& (b) Yes. The Government has decided to print personal details on
passports in both Hindi and English languages. The pre-printed portion of the
passport is already in Hindi and English languages.
(c)
Yes. The Government has implemented with effect from 24 June, 2017 a new scheme
under which senior citizens of the age of 60 years and above and minor children
upto the age of eight years would be given a discount of 10 per cent on the
applicable passport fee on fresh application for passports.
(d)
The Government has taken several steps to simplify the procedure for getting
passports by general public. These involve simplification of the passport rules
and outreach to the people in the delivery of passport related services. The
steps taken in this direction are as follows:
A. Outreach
(i)
The Government has opened 14 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) since May 2014 which
includes all the States in the North East of India. Two more PSK at Siliguri in
West Bengal and at Sholapur in Maharashtra are scheduled to be inaugurated
shortly to take the total number of PSK in the country to 93.
(ii)
The Ministry of External Affairs in association with the Department of Posts
has taken an innovative initiative and has decided to open Passport Offices at
the Head Post Offices (HPO) in the country called ‘Post Office Passport Seva
Kendra’ (POPSK). The Government has announced the opening of 235 POPSK in two
phases – 86 in Phase-I and 149 in Phase-II. 55 POPSK out of the 86 announced in
Phase-I have become functional as on 15 July, 2017. With the addition of 235
POPSKs, the total number of Passport Seva Kendras including POPSK to have been
set-up since May 2014 for the benefit of the citizens would be 251.
(iii)
There will be 93 PSK and 235 POPSK after the operationalization of all the PSK
and POPSK announced in Phases I and II. The Government intends to open POPSK in
the HPO in the country in such a manner that Passport Seva Kendra facility is
available to citizens within a radius of 50 kms.
B. Simplification of rules
In
order to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issue of passport, the
Ministry of External Affairs has announced steps in the realm of passport
policy to ease the process of issue of passports. The details of these steps
are given below:-
(I)
Documents in support of proof of Date of Birth
As
per the extant statutory provisions of the Passport Rules, 1980, all the
applicants born on or after 26/01/1989, in order to get a passport, had to,
hitherto, mandatorily submit the Birth Certificate as the proof of Date of
Birth (DOB). It has now been decided that all applicants of passports can
submit any one of the following documents as the proof of DOB while submitting
the passport application:
(i)
Birth Certificate (BC) issued by the Registrar of Births & Deaths or the
Municipal Corporation or any other prescribed authority whosoever has been
empowered under the Registration of Birth & Deaths Act, 1969 to register
the birth of a child born in India;
(ii)
Transfer/School leaving/Matriculation Certificate issued by the school last
attended/recognized educational board containing the DOB of the applicant;
(iii)
PAN Card issued by the Income Tax Department with the DOB of applicant;
(iv)
Aadhaar Card/E-Aadhaar having the DOB of applicant;
(v)
Copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant (only in respect of
Government servants) or the Pay Pension Order (in respect of retired Government
Servants), duly attested/certified by the officer/in-charge of the
Administration of the concerned Ministry/Department of the applicant, having
his DOB;
(vi)
Driving license issued by the Transport Department of concerned State
Government, having the DOB of applicant;
(vii)
Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India
having the DOB of applicant;
(viii)
Policy Bond issued by the Public Life Insurance Corporations/Companies having
the DOB of the holder of the insurance policy.
II. Other steps:
(i)
The online passport application form now requires the applicant to provide the
name of father or mother or legal guardian, i.e., only one parent and not both.
This would enable single parents to apply for passports for their children and
to also issue passports where the name of either the father or the mother is
not required to be printed at the request of the applicant.
(ii)
The total number of Annexes prescribed in the Passport Rule, 1980, has been
reduced to 9 from the present 15. Annexes A, C, D, E, J, and K have been
removed and certain Annexes have been merged.
(iii)
All the annexes that are required to be given by the applicants would be in the
form of a self-declaration on a plain paper. No attestation/swearing by/before
any Notary/Executive Magistrate/First Class Judicial Magistrate would be
henceforth necessary.
(iv)
Married applicants would not be required to provide the erstwhile Annexure K or
any marriage certificate.
(v)
The passport application form does not require the applicant to provide the
name of her/his spouse in case of separated or divorced persons. Such
applicants for passports would not be required to provide even the Divorce
Decree.
(vi)
In case of children not born out of wedlock, the applicant for the passport of
such children should submit only extant Annexure C while submitting the
passport application.
(vii)
In case of issue of passport to in-country domestically adopted children,
submission of the registered adoption deed would no longer be required. In the
absence of any deed to this effect, the passport applicant may give a
declaration on a plain paper confirming the adoption.
(vii)
Government servants, who are not able to obtain the Identity Certificate
(extant Annexure-A)/ No-Objection Certificate (extant Annexure-G) from their
concerned employer and intend to get the passport on urgent basis can now get
the passport by submitting a self-declaration in extant Annexure-‘H’ that
he/she has given prior Intimation Letter to his/her employer informing that
he/she was applying for an ordinary passport to a Passport Issuing Authority.
(viii)
Sadhus/ Sanyasis can apply for a passport with the name of their spiritual Guru
mentioned in the passport application in lieu of their biological parent(s)
name(s) subject to their providing of at least one public document such as
Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India,
PAN card, Aadhaar Card, etc wherein the name of the Guru has been recorded
against the column(s) for parent(s) name(s).
(ix)
Orphaned children who do not have any proof of DOB such as Birth Certificate or
the Matriculation Certificate or the declaratory Court order, may now submit a
declaration given by the Head of the Orphanage/Child Care Home on their
official letter head of the organization confirming the DOB of the applicant.
GSR
1170(E) and 1171(E) dated 26.12.2016 and other executive instructions have been
issued bringing into force these changes with effect from 26 December, 2016.
All the above changes are expected to benefit the citizens of India applying
for a passport.
C. Others
(i)
An applicant for a passport has to submit any one of the documents as mentioned
in B (I) above as proof of Date of Birth (DOB) while submitting the passport
application. The DOB mentioned in the document would be recorded in the
passport. In case there is a discrepancy between the DOB previously recorded in
the passport and the new proof of DOB submitted by the applicant, the Passport
Issuing Authorities (PIA) have been authorized to consider the explanation of
each applicant seeking change in the DOB (irrespective of the period that would
have lapsed after the issue of the passport) to find the genuineness of the
claim and if the PIA is satisfied with the claim and with the document(s)
submitted by the applicant in support of the claim, the PIA shall accept all
such requests made by the applicant to issue the passport with revised DOB.
(ii)
Police Verification of the applicants plays an important role in timely
dispatch of passports. The Ministry along with the Passport Offices continues
to engage closely with the Police Departments across States/Union Territories
and with concerned Home Departments to reduce time taken in police
verification.
(iii)
In order to speed up passport issuance, Walk-in facility has been allowed for
certain categories of services/ citizens having Application Registration Number
(ARN) to enable them to apply for Tatkaal services ; issue of Police Clearance
Certificate (PCC); deletion of Emigration Check Required(ECR) status; inclusion
of name of spouse in passport and new booklets where pages have been exhausted.
Senior citizens (above 60 years); minors below 15 whose parents hold valid
passports; differently-abled persons; central/state government servants and
their spouse/dependent minor children, have also been permitted walk-in
facility.
(iv)
With a view to meet heavy and seasonal demand for passport services, Passport
Melas are being organized on weekends from time to time by Passport Offices.
(v)
In order to provide closer and speedier passport services to people located far
away from PSKs, Passport Seva Camps are being organized at various locations in
the country.
(viii)
Passport Adalats, on need basis, are also being conducted by Passport Offices
to redress passport service grievances by dealing with citizens directly.
