MADURAI: After the Ministry of External Affairs relaxed rules for obtaining new passports, especially by single parents/ guardians for their dependants, there had been a tremendous rush from passport applicants, said Regional Passport Officer (Madurai) S. Maniswara Raja here on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters, he said the MEA officials liberalised certain norms for obtaining passports, which had hitherto been mandatory, a week back. Now, passport seekers born after 26.1.1989, who were supposed to furnish birth certificate, were not required to file the document.
Instead, they should attach the date of birth detail, which figured in the PAN card, Aadhaar card or Transfer Certificate (TC) issued at the time of passing 10th standard or on completion of any other higher education courses from recognised institutions or universities, he said.
Similarly, the rules had been simplified with regard to single parents or divorcees. Submission of marriage registration certificate was not mandatory any more. Self-declaration/ attestation by the applicants was sufficient.
Mr. Maniswara Raja said the very fact that online appointments with Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in Madurai for the next five working days were full was an indicator that people were eager to obtain passports with alternate documents, he said.
The number of documents to be attached with the application for obtaining passport had been reduced from 15 to nine now. There were at least 3,000 applications pending in the region for want of the mandatory documents. Now, the applicants could make good use of relaxation of rules, he said.
However, he warned that those submitting fake documents while applying for passports would attract severe legal action, even cancellation of their applications.
In Madurai region, which comprised nine districts – Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari – 2,36,379 passports were issued from January to December 26 this year. Last year, the Regional Passport Office had issued a little over 2.45 lakh passports, Mr. Maniswaraja said.
Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Ramanathapuram districts topped in the region with more number of people applying for passports. Since its inception in 2007, the RPO (Madurai) had issued 11,09,774 passports, he added.
