2.3 Subsequently, the petitioner was served with a Show Cause Notice dated 19.10.2023 (Annexure P-11), calling upon him to explain the nearly forty-year delay in seeking correction in the Date of Birth in the passport and the reason for travelling on a passport with an incorrect Date of Birth. The petitioner furnished a detailed reply (Annexure P-12) to the said notice.

2.4 However, vide letter dated 10.04.2024 (Annexure P-14), the passport authorities rejected the petitioner’s request for issuance of a corrected passport.

5. Per Contra, learned counsel for the respondents submits that the petitioner has held different passports for over forty years, all consistently recording his Date of Birth as 01.01.1967, and he never raised any objection at any stage despite repeatedly renewing his passport and travelling abroad on the same. It is argued that the petitioner’s request for correction after such an extraordinary delay, based on a Birth Certificate registered only in 2022, is neither credible nor acceptable. The authorities issued a Show Cause Notice but the petitioner failed to offer any satisfactory explanation for the long delay or for using the allegedly incorrect Date of Birth