The judgment emphasized the need for suitable provisions in the Passport Manual to enable the indication of names of biological parents, adoptive parents, or step parents in the passport applications, as per the situation demands.

By consent, the Writ Petition is taken up for final disposal.

2. The mother of the minor petitioner originally married Thiru G.Krishnan and, out of the said wedlock, the petitioner was born and, on account of difference of opinion, their marriage ended in divorce in O.P.No.2422 of 2010 on the file of II Additional Family Court, Chennai, by a decree, dated 27.02.2011, and the said decree has become final. It is further stated by the mother petitioner that she subsequently married M.Vinoth Kumar on 01.09.2013 and it was also registered vide certificate of marriage dated 04.11.2013. She would also state that Aadhaar Card was also issued, showing M.Vinoth Kumar, as her spouse. She applied for a passport and it was issued on 30.10.2014, showing M.Vinoth Kumar as her husband and, during the pendency of the application, she applied for change of name of the minor petitioner as V.Mathi Nithya and a gazette notification was also effected on 22.04.2015 in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, regarding the change of name.

3. The grievance of the petitioner is that she was called for an inquiry by the passport authorities in respect of application for issue of passport for her minor daughter and they insisted that the biological father of the child alone shall be included in the passport and not the step-father of the child and hence she has come forward to file this Writ Petition.

4. Mr.K.Ravi Anantha Padmanabhan, learned counsel for the petitioner, has drawn the attention of this Court to the typed set of documents, and would submit that on 08.06.2015, Mr.M.Vinoth Kumar/husband of the mother petitioner, after performing Datta Homam, adopted the minor child/petitioner, and a deed of adoption also came into being to that effect. The learned counsel for the petitioner, by drawing the attention of this Court to the additional affidavit of the petitioner, would point out that the former husband of the mother of the petitioner has remarried a widow with a two year child after the decree of divorce, dated 27.02.2011, and hence there may not be any impediment for including the name of Mr.M.Vinoth Kumar as the father of the minor petitioner.

5. It is further contended by the learned counsel for the petitioner that in similar facts and circumstances, this Court, in W.P.Nos.13182 and 13217 of 2015, by a common order dated 30.04.2015, following the judgment in the case of B.S.Deepa v. The Regional Passport Officer, Chennai, reported in 2015 (2) CTC 503, directed the first respondent to pass appropriate orders and, accordingly, he prays for appropriate orders in this case as well.

6. Per contra, Mrs.S.Meenakumari, learned Central Government Standing Counsel, appearing for the respondents, has invited the attention of this Court to the counter affidavit of the respondents and would submit that as per Para 3.I of Chapter 8 of Passport Manual, regarding issue of change of name, some guidelines are to be followed, which are extracted as under :

a) Prescribed Deed Poll / Sworn Affidavit (As per the format in Annexure E)

b) Original Newspaper cuttings announcing the change of name published in two leading daily newspapers (one popular daily newspaper in the area of the applicant's present address and another at his permanent address) or name change Gazette notification published in the Union/State Official Gazette.

According to her, where request is made for inclusion of step parent's name in the passport, the following guidelines have been issued :

"In case of Divorce, subsequent remarriage and inclusion of step-parent's name in the passport of minor child, the name of the stepfather/stepmother cannot be written in the passport of children from the previous marriage. The relationship of the child to his/her biological parents subsists, even arter divorce by parents. In such cases, the column of father or mother in the passport cannot also be left blank. Therefore, such applicants must apply with the names of their biological parents. However, if the s