Madurai Bench orders notice to Regional Passport Officer Madurai

Madurai, Jun 18 (UNI) The Madurai bench of Madras High Court has ordered notice to the Regional Passport Officer (RPO), here for the inordinate delay in issuing passport to a seven-month-old girl.

A Division Bench comprising Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and Mr M Venugopal yesterday took up the case suo motu, following a letter written by R Thangaperumal, a retired judge and grandfather of the baby.

In his letter Thangaperumal stated that his son T Sridhar Kumar, a software engineer employed in Singapore, had sent the passport application of his daughter to the Madurai RPO, through the passport wing of Tuticorin District Collector office in the first week of January last.

His son obtained a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Indian High Commission in Singapore and faxed it to the RPO, Madurai on May 15. The original NOC was also dispatched through Speed Post.

However, the baby was not issued the passport so far, Thangaperumal said.

Stating that his granddaughter and daughter-in-law were facing hardships due to the delay in getting the passport, he said his son had already left for Singapore.

Treating the letter as a writ petition, the judges directed the Assistant Solicitor General of India, C Arul Vadivel to file his reply by June 20, considering the urgency involved in the matter.

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