Delhi High Court: In a case wherein a petition was filed seeking deletion of name of the father of a minor child from his existing passport or in the alternative, the mother of the minor child sought re-issuance of a fresh passport to the minor child without mentioning the name of the father therein, a Single Judge Bench of Prathiba M. Singh, J.* noted that the biological father had completely deserted the minor child and thus, the Court directed that the name of the father of the minor child should be deleted from the child’s passport and the passport must be re-issued in favour of the minor child without name of the father.
Background
In the present case, Petitioner 1 got married and later conceived a child from the said wedlock. However, her husband deserted her during the pregnancy and since then, the child had been raised by Petitioner 1 as a single parent. Petitioner 1 and her husband had entered into a settlement, as per which neither Petitioner 1 nor the minor son were given any payment including alimony, maintenance, etc. The exclusive custody of the child was to be with Petitioner 1 and the father had agreed to have no visitation rights or access to the child or any claim over the child, in the present or in the near future. The minor child was also to carry the identity and surname of Petitioner 1 and maternal grandparents. Thus, the father severed all ties with the child. Thereafter, the decree of divorce by mutual consent was also granted, after which various identity cards such as Aadhaar card and other documents had been issued to the minor child with only the name of Petitioner 1. Since the minor’s passport expired in 2020, Petitioner 1 applied for re-issuance of the passport. The name of the minor’s father was reflected again in the re-issued passport, and therefore, this action of the Passport Authorities was challenged in the present petition.
Submissions on behalf of the Petitioners
It was submitted that since Petitioner 1 was a single parent and the father had completely abandoned the child, this was a case where the name of the father ought not to be insisted upon by the Passport Authorities, for being mentioned in the child’s passport. Petitioner 1 relied on Chapter 8, Clause 4.5.1 and Chapter 9, Clauses 4.1 and 4.3 of the Passport Manual, 2020 and submitted that all these clauses made it clear that in the case of a single parent who was divorced or who had been deserted by the husband, the name of the father need not be mentioned.
Submissions on behalf of the Respondent
It was submitted that Clauses 4.1 and 4.3 of Chapter 9 of the Passport Manual, 2020 would be applicable in the present case, wherein it was only in the case of single unwed parents that the name of the father need not be mentioned and in the case of married parents, Clause 4.3 would be applicable and thus the name of the father would have to be mentioned in the passport.
Analysis, Law, and Decision
The Court noted that Chapter 8, Clause 4.5.1 related to the situation which would be applicable in the present case, that is, where the name of the parent could be deleted consequent to divorce and the Passport Manual, 2020 clearly recognized several situations/conditions where the exclusion of the name of the father from the minor’s passport was permissible. The Court noted that “Clause 4.1 enabled a single parent to apply for a passport without mentioning the name of the other parent and Clause 4.2 was related to unwed single parents. Further, Clause 4.3 clearly mentioned that in the case of married parents the name of the father should be furnished by the other single parent having the custody of the child, irrespective of the status of the marriage, that is, divorce, divorce pending, separated etc. However, the mere furnishing of the name did not result in the conclusion that the name of the father had to be compulsorily mentioned and it would depend on the circumstances of each case”.
The Court relied on the Office Memorandum (‘OM’), which stated that in cases where there was no contact of the father with the mother or the child, the name of the father need not be included in the passport. The Court observed that wherever the term ‘single unwed parent’ was to be mentioned, the same had specifically been mentioned by the Passport Authorities and in other clauses the term ‘single parent’ was used.
The Court relied on Shalu Nigam v. The Regional Passport Officer, 2016 SCC OnLine Del 3023; Prerna Katia v. Regional Passport Office Chandigarh, 2016 SCC OnLine P&H 14187 and Nancy Nithya v. Government of India, Writ Petition No. 22378 of 2022, wherein the Court had recognized the fact that “the name of the single parent could be mentioned without the name of the other parent”. Thus, this Court opined that the spirit behind these decisions was clear, that is, that under certain circumstances the name of the biological father could be deleted, and the surname could also be changed.
The Court opined that the passports could be issued under different circumstances without the name of the father, depending upon the factual position in each case and no hard and fast rule could be applied. The Court further opined that there were myriad situations in the case of matrimonial discord between parents, where the child’s passport application might have to be considered by the authorities and such situations included (a) divorce with sole custody and mere visitation; (b) divorce with joint custody and visitation; (c) divorce with sole custody and no visitation; (d) divorce with complete disowning of the child; (e) divorce with some rights being given to the child; (f) divorce between the couple but rights vesting in either side’s grandparents; (f) separation with divorce pending and visitation issues pending in Court; (g) desertion by either parent; (h) divorce or separation with conditions relating to subsequent marriages which might alter the relationship with the child; (i) legal disowning of the child by either parent; and (j) situations where the couple were in different countries and an attempt was made to remove the child from a jurisdiction.
The Court noted that in the present case the father had completely deserted the child and thus, opined that Clause 4.5.1 of Chapter 8 and Clause 4.1 of Chapter 9 of the Passport Manual, 2020 would be applicable. Therefore, the Court disposed of the present petition and directed that the name of the father of the minor child should be deleted from the passport and the passport must be re-issued in favour of the minor child without the name of the father.
[Smita Maan v. Regional Passport Officer, 2023 SCC OnLine Del 2323, decided on 19-4-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioners: Smita Maan, present in person.
For the Respondent: Rakesh Kumar, CGSC; Mehak Nakra, ASC and Sunil, Giriraj Shrama and Prince Roshan, Abhishek Khari, Advocates.
*Judgment authored by: Justice Prathiba M. Singh