The main legal point established in the judgment is the validity of an Apostille Certificate under the Hague Convention, 1961 and the absence of a requirement for a Nativity Certificate in the Citizenship Act or the Rules for processing an OCI Card application.

JUDGMENT :

MAHESH CHANDRA TRIPATHI, J.

1. Heard Sri Vineet Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri S.P. Singh, learned Assistant Solicitor General of India (ASGI) assisted by Sri Sanjay Kumar Om, learned counsel for Union of India.

2. The factual matrix of the case is that, the petitioner is a citizen of United States of America though born in Guyana, but of Indian origin. Her grandfather Bishnath hailed from Allahabad, Jaunpur and Hania, who was sent from Calcutta by a ship “EMS” to Guyana (British Guyana) vide Immigration no. 104709. The petitioner is also great granddaughter of Ganesh and Janki hailing from Jaunpur and Hania respectively, who travelled via Ship from Calcutta to Guyana. In proof of this, the petitioner got an apostille copy of her grandfather’s immigration certificate from National Archives of Guyana, which clearly showed that they immigrated by Ship ‘Delhet’ on 10th October, 1882 and it also carried the immigration certificate of her grandmother Janki.

3. The petitioner applied for “Ancestry Certificate” for her ancestors Bishnath, Ganesh and Janaki, which were issued to her by the Village Pradhan of village-Sarigaon, Tehsil-Mariyahoo, District-Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh on 3.10.2022, mentioning therein that Ganesh hailed from Ahir Caste and belonged to the family of Sadho and Matabhik, who were deported by the Britishers. The ancestry chart of the petitioner is as follows:

4. The petitioner claims that she got married to one Bhavin Dinesh Dholakia on 14.9.2018 in a temple in Mumbai, which was duly registered on 24.9.2018. She then applied for Overseas Citizenship of India [OCI] Card through her spouse and also through her Indian origin ancestry, but the same was denied on the ground that her marriage was not verified. Thereafter the petitioner applied for Visa Conversion on 20.9.2022 on both counts, marriage and ancestry because for OCI registration her Visa required to have a minimum validity period of six months. However, it was again rejected.

5. The petitioner claims to have been running from pillar to posts to get the documents by which her OCI Card could be processed. In the meanwhile, her Visa expired on 6.2.2023.

6. The petitioner has all her grandparents origination documents/papers issued by the officials of Guyana, South America, which clearly demonstrate that the grandparents of the applicant were originally from India and having their origination from Allahabad (Prayagraj). All Apostilled official documents are admissible in Indian law for addressing the applicant’s claim of OCI Card, allowing her Conversion Visa and issue of Nativity Certificate. These documents were sufficient as per the Hague Convention, 1961 [Convention, 1961] which abolishes the requirement of legalization of foreign documents for use in any member country, once an Apostille certificate has been issued by a competent authority of the country.

7. That inspite of having the required documents the respondents refused to process or hand over the OCI Card to the petitioner, so the petitioner filed the instant writ petition with the following reliefs:

(i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing to the respondent nos. 1 to 3 to register petitioner as OCI card holder on the basis of her Indian Origination/Indian Spouse.

(ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus to respondent nos. 1 to 3 to allow Conversion Visa to the petitioner to X-1 Entry Visa on the basis of Indian Origination/Indian Spouse.

(iii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus to respondent nos. 1 to 3 to extend the Visa of the pe