ORDER

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and V.T.Kalyan, learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondents. With the consent of the parties, the writ petition is being taken up for disposal at the admission stage itself.

2. This writ petition is filed seeking the following prayer:- “to declare the action of the 2nd respondent in rejecting the application vide REF NO.USAC045A5N24 filed for issuance of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Card by insisting the signature of the father of the minor child and to direct to issue OCI by considering the application filed by the mother of the minor child under special circumstances as envisaged under section 7A (3) of The Citizenship Act, 1955 and consequently direct the respondents to consider the application and issue OCI in favor of the minor child by name Merugu Ishaan.”

3. Brief facts in this writ petition are that petitioner being a minor is represented by his GPA i.e., Sri.Korapala Venkataiah, who is his grand father. The case of the petitioner is that on 15.02.2019, petitioner’s mother and father got married and on 04.11.2019, they were blessed with a baby boy i.e., petitioner. Thereafter, petitioner’s father left for USA leaving the petitioner and his mother with Sri.Korapala Venkataiah and since then the petitioner’s father did not visit, hence, petitioner’s mother filed a criminal complaint against her husband in Saroonagar Police Station and the same was numbered as CC.No.1517 of 2024 pending on the file of III Metropolitan Magistrate, Ranga Reddy at L.B.Nagar. Petitioner from birth is suffering from Autism and is unable to speak perfectly and partly dumb and because of huge amount of expenditure incurred against the treatment, petitioners mother filed M.C.No.249 of 2024, seeking Rs.91,000/- per month towards maintenance of the petitioner and M.C.No.18 of 2025 seeking Rs.75,000/- per month towards maintenance of herself, before Family Court Ranga Reddy District. Petitioner father also filed HMOP No.155 of 2023 and the same is pending on the file of Senior Civil Judge, Miryalaguda, Nalgonda District.

4. Further case is that earlier petitioner’s mother had applied for issuance of petitioner’s passport to the US passport office and the same was issued vide passport bearing No.A45415998, valid till 04.12.2029. Petitioner was also issued with ETA for E-Tourist Visa for 5 years by the Bureau of Immigration, Government of India vide ID No.I041V1E24924 dated 18.12.2024 with a condition “Maximum stay in India during one calendar year (1^st January to 31^st December) on an E-Tourist Visa or Regular/Sticker Tourist Visa or both, shall be restricted to 180 days and also continuous stay in India on each entry should not exceed to 180 days.”

5. While thing stood thus, petitioner’s mother through online applied for grant of OCI Card vide Ref No.USACO45A5N24 to the Indian Embassy and the same was forwarded to respondent No.2. Thereafter, respondent No.2 rejected the same with the following remarks:-

“1.The birth certificate submitted is missing apostille. Kindly resend the birth certificate with original apostille.

2.The parental Authorization Form we received is unacceptable as it is missing father’s signature. Kindly resent the form with both parents signature and notary.”

6. Learned counsel for the petitioner has drawn attention of this Court to Section 7A (3) of The Citizenship Act, 1955, for ready reference the same is extracted hereunder:-

“(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Central Government may, if it is satisfied that special circumstances exist, after recording the circumstances in writing, register a person as an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder.”

Learned counsel further submits that since petitioner’s parents are living separately, it is not possible for petitioner’s mother to take signature of the petitioner’s father and pray this Court to direct the respondent authorities to consider the case of the petitioner under Section 7A (3) of the Citizenship Ac