JUDGMENT :

AMIT RAWAL, J.

1. On account of high-handedness of the passport authorities the petitioner No. 1 who had been directed to surrender the passport of her minor child on 30.01.2020, has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Petitioner No. 1 is the mother of petitioner No. 2 a minor daughter aged 6 years. Marriage between the petitioner No. 1 and her husband one Sri. Anzil - respondent No. 3 was dissolved in the year 2017 by decree of a Family Court Ext.P2 dated 26.05.2017. A passport bearing No. R0541315 dated 22.05.2017 was issued in favour of petitioner No. 2.

2. Sri. Kishnamoorthy, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners, submitted that an application was submitted for re-issuance of the passport of the petitioner No. 2 by ticking mark the Clause No. II(d) of Annexure C regarding the matrimonial discord whereby the prime custody of the child was with the mother with the visitation rights to the father on every weekend. The venom of the husband on petitioner No. 1 was reflected when the complaint at his behest was submitted to the passport officer with regard to the visitation rights. The passport officer without taking legal consideration or putting a notice to the petitioner or supplying the copy of the complaint, issued cause notice with regard to the misrepresentation in the application form and thereafter directed the petitioner No. 1 to surrender the passport, which was surrendered on 31.01.2020 as reflected from Ext.P5.

3. Per contra it is submitted on behalf of the Assistant Solicitor General that complaint was submitted by the father which resulted into a notice dated 09.01.2020 Ext.P3 regarding the information supplied along with the application for re-issuance of the passport and the passport had been surrendered. The department examined the copy of the decree and noticed that visitation right had been given to the father which was not disclosed in the aforementioned format. It is in that aspect the notice Ext.P3 was issued, necessitating the passport officer to call upon the petitioner No. 1 for surrender of the passport of petitioner No. 2 and petitioner No. 1 was directed to produce the order from the competent court for release of the passport as the father had raised objection.

4. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and appraised the paper book.

5. The contents of paragraph 6 of the counter affidavit or statement reads as under:

“6. On scrutiny of the passport application of Kum. Hiba Fathima, it is seen that the passport was issued with the consent of the mother Smt. Haseena. Hence the petitioner was asked to call at office and subsequently asked to surrender the passport, as the biological father of the minor child has objected the issue of passport. On 31.01.2020, the petitioner visited this office and she was advised to surrender the passport since the father of the child objected the issue of passport and Passport No. R0541315 was surrendered and is kept in our safe custody. The petitioner was asked to produce order from the competent court for release of the passport as the father has raised objection.”

6. This Court while dealing with the matters regarding the objections taken by the passport officer has come across many cases where though dispute between husband and wife has already been settled, such type of complaints are being made out by one of the spouse, resulting into surrender of the passport, despite the fact that one of the spouse has already been given an undertaking in Annexure C in format form, regarding the pendency of the matrimonial dispute or grant of divorce.

7. It would be apt to extract the contents of Annexure-C, Ext.P4.

ANNEXURE ‘C’

SPECIMEN DECLARATION BY APPLICANTS PARENT OR

GUARDIAN FOR ISSUE OF PASSPORT TO MINOR WHEN ONE PARENT HAS NOT GIVEN CONSENT

(on plain paper)

I/We....................(name of the parent/guardian applying for passport) resident of...............solemnly declare and affirm as under:

(I) That I/we am/are