Passport issuance procedure simplified: Pranab

Chennai, Dec 22: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today announced simplification of procedures for issuance of passports and said the new rules would come into force from tomorrow.

The issuance of passports would be made faster, easier, user-friendly and in a transparent manner, in conformity with the best international standards and practices, he said, inaugurating the All India Passport Officer's Conference here.

He said under the new rules an applicant would be able to get a passport on the basis of post-issuance police verfication after submitting it with three of the 14 stipulated documents listed in the application.

''Hitherto this has been done through police verification prior to issuance of passport, leading to delays in a large number of cases'', he added.

He said no police verification would be necessary for reissuing and renewal, before or after issuance of passports, if there was no negative information about the applicant.

He also announced that the category of officials, authorised to issue Verification Certificates under the Tatkal Scheme, was being expanded significantly.

The time limit of 10 and 20 days for issuance of passports under Tatkal had also been cut down to seven and 14 days, respectively without any upward revision in the fee structure.

He said reissuance of passports under the Tatkal scheme would be done on three working days.

The gazette notification in this regard would be issued in the next two or three days, he said and added that the Ministry of External Affairs was also examining suitable amendments to the Passports Act providing stringent penalties for those obtaining passports through fraudulent means.

He also assured that steps would be taken to avoid delays, discourteous behaviour and harassment of applicants and called for zero tolerance from the officials.

Mr Pranab Mukherjee said the National Institute of Smart Governemnt, Hyderabad, was undertaking a comprehensive study on passport issuance and the report would be ready by March next year.

The recommendations would be implemented in a time bound manner.

UNI