HC directs Passport Officer to re-issue passport to child

August 01, 2021 08:37 pm | Updated 08:37 pm IST - MADURAI

Bringing relief to the father of a girl child, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Regional Passport Officer here to consider the application and re-issue the passport to the child. The authorities had asked the father to surrender the child’s passport and attend an inquiry on the grounds that it was not mentioned that the child was adopted.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh took note of the fact that a proper procedure was followed with regard to adoption of the child. The adoption was made from a recognised adoption agency and the competent court had also passed an order recognising the adoption, and the deed was executed before the Sub-Registrar.

Based on the court order and after complying with conditions, an application was submitted to authorities and a birth certificate was issued. By virtue of the birth certificate, the parents would have to be treated almost like natural parents and it was not necessary for them to keep announcing to the world that they were adoptive parents, the judge said.

The court also took note of the petitioner’s submission that there was no separate column in the application form to declare whether the child was a natural child or adopted. The judge said that in such a case it could not be said that the fact was suppressed in the earlier application.

Under these circumstances, the court was told that some misunderstanding between the parents resulted in dissolution of the marriage. The father was the guardian and the child was in his custody. The court observed that no one had complained that the parents acted against the welfare of the child.

The passport officer should not have taken the pain to inquire into the issue of the welfare of the child. It was enough if the officer scrutinised the available records. It was not necessary that for every development that would take place in the future, the parents had to knock at the doors of the court, the judge said.

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