Court allowed issuance of passports to minors under guardianship despite lack of consent from the biological parent, stressing children's welfare and right to travel.

ORDER:

The case of petitioner - a retired Additional Superintendent of Police is that the 3^rd respondent married his daughter who died on 31.10.2020 and subsequently, he married another woman without intimation and left the minor children of the deceased who are under the care of petitioner – grandfather. It is stated, petitioner filed GWOP No. 83 of 2023 in Family Court, Ranga Reddy District seeking custody/guardianship of the minor and the same is pending for adjudication.

1.1. Meanwhile, petitioner and his wife having valid passports, are planning to go abroad to spend with their children and since the minor children of the deceased daughter were not having passports, they could not go there. Petitioner therefore, is stated to have approached Respondent No.2 and applied for passport to the minor grandsons namely Abdul Raafay Syed and Abdul Waasey Javid Syed dated 02.02.2024. Petitioner also submitted the affidavits as directed by the 2^nd respondent, duly mentioning the pendency of GWOP. Later, the 2^nd respondent insisted for the consent of father of the minor sons for issuance of passport vide letter dated 01.04.2024 quoting Chapter 9 Para 4 of Passport Manual, 2020; when asked, the 3^rd respondent bluntly refused and demanded for consent of entire property of the mother of the minor's (who is deceased) as well as hand over the gold of the minor's mother.

1.2. Petitioner states that it is practically impossible to obtain consent from the 3rd respondent. It is pertinent to note that GWOP Petition was filed by petitioner seeking guardianship of minors as the 3^rd respondent is not taking care of them, hence, his consent is not at all required for obtaining Passport to minor sons. In similar circumstances, this Court in Writ Petition No. 31096 of 2022 by order dated 13.10.2022, directed the Passport Officer to consider the Application of petitioner therein and issue passport to the minor son of petitioner.

2. Learned counsel for petitioner Sri Dunna Ambedkar submits that the High Court of Kerala in Juvairiya v. Regional Passport Officer , [(2014) 1 (K) ALT 1990] considered issuance of passport on consent not being obtained from the other parent and held that if the affidavit as required under the Passport Rules , 1980 is submitted, then necessarily, Passport Officer would have to issue passport in the name of the minor child. In Rabeeha v. Ministry of External Affairs, Regional Passport Officer , [(2015) Lawsuit (K) 722] and Chaitanya S. Nair v. Union of India (WP (C) No. 22555 of 2021), the said principle was reiterated. Therefore, learned counsel seeks a direction to the 2^nd respondent to issue passport to the minor grandchildren namely Abdur Raafay Syed and Abdul Waasey Javid Syed.

3. The 3rd respondent - father of minor children filed counter stating that he is the natural guardian of minor children and continue to remain so under law; petitioner, who is only the maternal grandfather, has no legal right to unilaterally apply for passports for his children without his consent. It is stated, petitioner has deliberately suppressed material facts and is misusing the pending GWOP No. 83 of 2023 to claim guardianship over his children, despite there being no final order from the Family Court appointing him as a legal guardian. 3.1. According to the 3^rd respondent, the Passport Manual, 2020, Chapter 9, Para 4 (4.6) clearly mandates that where a GWOP is pending, the Passport Issuing Authority shall insist on consent from both the parents or a direction/order from the competent Court. Petitioner is trying to bypass this mandatory legal requirement by filing the pres