Calcutta High Court: A single bench comprising of Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya*, J., held that the petitioner cannot suffer indefinitely due to inaction on the part of the respondent authorities and directed the respondent authorities to ascertain with immediacy the genuineness of documents produced for verification by the petitioner.
In the instant matter, the petitioner preferred a writ petition seeking a direction to the respondent 2 to complete the verification process for issuing the petitioner’s passport. The petitioner contended that she applied for a passport and submitted necessary documents, including a birth certificate issued by the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (respondent 3). However, despite providing all required documents, the respondents have not completed their verification, leading to a delay in the issuance of the passport. The petitioner pointed out the vague reference to the “SCO Office” in the police report which has not been adequately explained by the respondents. On the other hand, respondent 2 submitted a police report, stating that the petitioner’s documents were deemed insufficient for citizenship proof.
The Court observed that the police report is contradicting itself, as the list of documents required for police verification includes only two citizenship proof documents, both of which the petitioner has already submitted. The Court observed that an email was sent to the Ranchi Municipal Corporation for verification of the petitioner’s birth certificate.
The Court directed the respondent 2 to promptly ascertain the outcome of the email allegedly sent to the Ranchi Municipal Corporation regarding the verification of the petitioner’s birth certificate. The Court further directed the Ranchi Municipal Corporation to act on the communication of the server copy of the court’s order and respond to the email sent by respondent 2 regarding the birth certificate issued to the petitioner.
The Court instructed the petitioner to immediately communicate the court’s order to Ranchi Municipal Corporation to ensure compliance and mandated that both respondent 2 and 3 should complete the entire verification process within a fortnight from the date of communication of this order.
[Shivani Mishra v. Union of India, 2023 SCC OnLine Cal 2197, order dated 24-07-2023]
*Judgment by Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr. Gunjan Sinha, Counsel for the Petitioner
Mr. Asok Kumar Chakraborti, Ms. Susmita Saha Dutta, Counsel for the Union of India
Ms. Tuli Sinha, Counsel for the Respondent 2
