JUDGMENT

nd The petitioner seeks a direction to the 2 respondent to issue a fresh passport with the date of birth shown as 23.05.1978 instead of

23.05.1981, as shown in Ext.P1.

2. A statement has been filed on behalf of the respondents, which reads as follows:

“The petitioner herein has not submitted his duly signed passport application form in the prescribed format along with prescribed documents at any Passport Seva Kendra under this office. On submission of his application, the 2^nd respondent office shall process the same on its merits and pass appropriate orders in accordance with extant guidelines and statutory guidelines and statutory rules governing the matter.”

3. Thereafter, a counter affidavit has been filed by the 2^nd respondent, which reads as follows:

“4. It is submitted that as admitted by the petitioner in his reply affidavit filed in this case, Ext.P9 produced by the petitioner is merely a summary of the online form filled by him and does not constitute a validly submitted (duly signed) passport application form in the prescribed format. Since the petitioner did not complete the submission process at the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK), no File Number was generated and no pas