Madras High Court: In a writ petition filed against the letter dated 06-01-2023 issued by Regional Passport Officer (‘RPO’) and to quash the same and directing the RPO to issue passport for petitioner, G.R. Swaminathan, J. directed the Passport office to process the petitioner’s application and issue passport to the petitioner within a period of three weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
In the case at hand, the petitioner’ father is a Sri Lankan refugee. He came to India in the year 1990. He was put in Refugee Camp, where he came in contact with petitioner’s mother, an Indian citizen. They got married. Thereafter, petitioner was born in 2002.
The petitioner applied for a passport so that he can explore employment opportunities abroad. Apprehending that his application may not be favorably considered, as in the birth certificate, the petitioner was mentioned as Sri Lankan refugee, and the impugned letter dated 06-01-2023 was issued calling upon the petitioner to furnish proper explanation. The present petition was filed.
The Court said that the apprehension of the petitioner is well-founded. Further, referred to the earlier cases where the Court have described the plight of Sri Lankan refugees in getting citizenship.
Further, the Court said that the Parliament is yet to enact a law relating to refugees. However, Section 3(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 states that every person born in India on or after first day of July 1987, but before the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 and either of whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth shall be a citizen of India by birth. The Amendment Act came into force on 03-12-2004. Thus, the petitioner has been lucky in two ways, first as his mother is an Indian citizen and second, he was born before the cut-off date. Both the statutory requirements stand fulfilled in this case.
Placing reliance on Prabhleen Kaur v. Union of India, 2018 SCC OnLine Del 11650, wherein it was held that “once it is accepted that the petitioner’s mother’s citizenship cannot be questioned in the given facts, the doubt, if any, raised on the nationality of the petitioner does not survive”., thus , the Court said that there is no need to quash the impugned notice. The respondent cannot be blamed because in his birth certificate he has been described as Sri Lankan refugee. Such a description made by the authority cannot bind the petitioner. The official must have thought that since the petitioner’s father is a Sri Lankan refugee, the petitioner though born through an Indian citizen must also partake the father’s nationality.
Thus, the Court directed the Passport office to process the petitioner’s application and issue passport to the petitioner within a period of three weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
[Neyatitus v Regional Passport Officer, 2023 SCC OnLine Mad 2068, decided on 05-04-2023]
