IMPORTANT POINT
A minor's citizenship by birth is not affected by a parent's foreign nationality, ensuring the child's right to an Indian passport.

JUDGMENT :

M.S. KARNIK, J.

1. Heard Mr. Abhijeet Kamat for the petitioner and Mr. Raviraj Chodankar, learned Standing Counsel for Central Government.

2. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. With the consent of the parties the petition is heard and finally disposed of at the stage of admission.

3. Invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner prays for quashing the decision of the respondent no. 2 communicated by letter dated 05.08.2020 holding that the petitioner is not eligible for a passport. The facts of the case in brief are as under.

4. The petitioner is a minor child aged about 16 years. This petition is filed through her natural guardian/mother. By the order of the Civil Court the mother has been granted permanent custody of the petitioner until she attains majority. The respondents held that the petitioner is not eligible for the Indian passport since she is “single parent minor child and the physical custody is with the parent who is a foreign national” and therefore not eligible for an Indian passport.

5. The petitioner was born on 27.10.2007 in Margao, Goa, India. The parents of the petitioner were both Indian citizens at the time of their marriage in Goa in the year 2007. The marriage was duly registered in the office of the Civil Registrar at Margao Goa. In 2010, when the petitioner was barely three years old, her father abandoned the petitioner and her mother. Petitioner’s mother filed for divorce. By Judgment and Order dated 03.01.2019 passed in Marriage Petition No. 147/2016/II, the Second Additional Civil Judge, Senior Division at Margao granted dissolution of marriage.

6. The petitioner applied for and was issued Indian passport bearing No. M4016366 by the respondent no. 3. The said passport was issued on 03.12.2014 and was valid upto 02.12.2019. The petitioner was also issued an Aadhar Card. In 2014, petitioner’s mother in order to provide for the petitioner and herself and since she was getting employment opportunities abroad, applied for registration of petitioner’s mother’s birth in Portugal. The birth of petitioner’s mother came to be registered in the Register of Births in Portugal on 10.02.2015 and as per the existing law, the petitioner’s mother acquired Portuguese citizenship and thereafter obtained Portuguese passport. Petitioner’s mother is also registered as an Overseas Citizen of India and has been issued a Certificate of Registration as an Overseas Citizen of India.

7. The petitioner travelled on the Indian passport to the United Kingdom with her mother when her mother took up employment. The petitioner was admitted in a school in the United Kingdom for continuing her studies. The petitioner was issued a Residence Card by the Government of United Kingdom, being a family member of a Union Citizen. The Residence Card mentioned that the nationality of the petitioner was Indian. The Residence Card was issued in the year 2017 and was valid till the year 2022. Subsequently, the petitioner has been granted an “Indefinite Leave in the United Kingdom” by the Home Office of the United Kingdom by letter dated 01.12.2021.

8. The petitioner’s mother has also been granted “Limited Leave in the United Kingdom for five years” which will expire on 17.09.2024, unless extended. The petitioner’s passport was expiring in December 2019. Her mother in the year 2019 applied to the respondent no. 2 for renewal of passport. By the impugned letter dated 05.08.2020, respondent no. 2 communicated that the application cannot be granted. The competent authority was of the view that since the applicant is a single parent minor child and the physical custody of the child is with the parent who is foreign national, she is not eligible for the Indian passport.

9. Mr. Abhijeet Kamat, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner continues to be an Indian citizen and has not even made any application for registration of birth in any other country nor has she appl