India News | Authorities Ask Mother to Give Custody Certificate for Infant's Passport, HC Seeks Centre's Stand
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought to know the stand of the Centre on the contention of an 11-month-old girl's mother that she being the biological parent of the child is not obliged to produce a custody certificate to obtain a passport for her.
New Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought to know the stand of the Centre on the contention of an 11-month-old girl's mother that she being the biological parent of the child is not obliged to produce a custody certificate to obtain a passport for her.
Justice Yashwant Varma granted time to the petitioner to implead the regional passport officer as a party to the petition and also asked the Centre's counsel to take instructions on the issue raised in the petition.
“Tell your passport officer there is no need to take such a convoluted view in every case,” the court said.
It added, “respondent's counsel shall take instructions bearing in mind the contention of the petitioner's mother that she being the biological mother of the minor is not obliged to produce a custody certificate to obtain the passport of her child”.
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The court listed the matter for further hearing on November 1.
The court was hearing a petition filed on behalf of an infant girl, through her mother, seeking direction to the authorities to issue a passport to her.
The petitioner, through advocate Rakesh Sachdeva, said the minor's mother applied for her daughter's passport on June 28 this year and on August 22, she received a letter with an objection to issuing the travel document on the ground that she shall give the custody papers of the child issued by the court for processing the application.
The woman said she got married in 2008 and since her husband was not ready to bear a child, they started living separately and she gave birth to a girl child in October last year.
“Since the mother of the petitioner (child) is her biological mother, the objection of the respondent to submit custody papers of the petitioner issued by a court of law is not sustainable in the eyes of law as there is no dispute regarding the custody of the petitioner and the demand of the respondent is unconstitutional and liable to be rejected,” the petition said.
It said that along with the application for issuance of a passport, the mother has also given Annexure-C which contains a specimen declaration by the applicant's parents or guardian for issuance of a passport to the minor when one parent has not given consent.
“The right to travel abroad is a fundamental right guaranteed under Articles 21, 14, and 19 of the Constitution. The officials of the regional passport office have erred in law by rejecting the application for passport on a ground which is not mentioned in the Passport Act,” the plea said.
The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought to know the stand of the Centre on the contention of an 11-month-old girl's mother that she being the biological parent of the child is not obliged to produce a custody certificate to obtain a passport for her.
Justice Yashwant Varma granted time to the petitioner to implead the regional passport officer as a party to the petition and also asked the Centre's counsel to take instructions on the issue raised in the petition.
“Tell your passport officer there is no need to take such a convoluted view in every case,” the court said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)