[Custody Battle] Father's Consent For Renewing Child's Passport Not Required If Mother Files Declaration As Per Passport Rules: MP High Court

The Jabalpur Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court directed that the Regional Passport Office, Bhopal to renew the passports of the minor daughters of actor Nitish Bharadwaj while holding that the passport of minor children can be renewed without father's consent if there is no prohibitory order from any competent court.Justice Vinay Saraf referred to the Passport Rules wherein declaration in the Form of Annexure (C) has to be submitted by the parent who has applied for issuance of passport, in case the other parent of minor child has not given consent. The declarant is required to declare that there is an ongoing case between the parents for divorce and custody of minor child but the competent Court has not issued any prohibitory order for issuance of passport without consent of other parent.“There is no prohibition in the Passport Rules that without any consent of the father, passport cannot be issued to minor child. Even there is no provision that in the absence of any prohibitory order, the permission from the Court is required," the Court said.As per the factual matrix of the case, the petitioners through their mother had applied for the renewal of their passports. After receipt of application, the Regional Passport Office, Bhopal/Respondent No. 2 issued a communication to the father of petitioners/respondent No.3 – Actor Nitish Bharadwaj. Bharadwaj refused to extend the consent for renewal of passport of the children and strongly objected for issuance of passports to his minor daughters. Thereafter, the Assistant Passport Officer by impugned communication asked the mother of petitioners to obtain the Court permission for issuance of passport to minor children.Bharadwaj's plea for obtaining a decree of divorce against the mother is pending before the Family Court, Mumbai wherein the issue of custody of minor children is also pending.The counsel for the petitioners submitted that every citizen of India is having Fundamental Right to obtain passport and travel as per his own wish and the Supreme Court has extended the scope of Article 21 by holding that the right to life and personal liberty includes the right to travel abroad. It was submitted that the petitioners have achieved several awards and have been invited to 'Bharat Mahotsava' scheduled to take place in the House of Lords, United Kingdom for special facilitation and book promotion on 14 February and on 17th February at the University of Oxford. Therefore, the petitioners are in need of valid passport which is expiring on January 16. It is submitted that as per the Annexure-C annexed to the application for renewal of passport, there is a provision that a single parent may apply for renewal of passport, if there is no prohibitory order issued by any competent Court. The form of Annexure-C declaring that there is an ongoing court case for divorce and custody of minor children and the competent Court has not given any prohibitory order to issue passport without consent of the father has been submitted by the mother of the petitioners. The actor's counsel opposed the application on the ground that the documents filed along with petition are "suspicious" as Bharat Mahotsav, 2024 has already been organized in the year 2024 and is not scheduled to be organized in February, 2025. It was submitted that there exist serious disputes in respect of custody of minor children and for the purpose of taking away the children from the father, the mother has moved an application on the basis of false documents. It was contended that since the application is pending before Family Court, Mumbai, the present petition is not maintainable. It was contended that there is a possibility of the petitioners' mother taking away the children to a foreign land for admission to some foreign school. The counsel for respondent No. 1/Union of India and 2/Regional Passport Office, Bhopal submitted that the communication issued by the Passport Authority had considered the objection raised by the father of minor children. It was said that as per procedure, when the application is received without consent of father of minor children, the same is required to be communicated to the father for giving his consent and when the father raised objection, as per the directions issued by the Ministry, the Passport Officer issued communication to the mother for obtaining the Court's permission. The high court after hearing the parties concluded that the main legal issue in the present matter is whether passport can be renewed without consent of the father of minor child, if there is no prohibitory order from any competent Court. The court opined that all other issues are not required to be considered in the present petition and the father is at the liberty to raise these issues before Family Court, Mumbai if he wishes to.Thus, the court allowed the present petition and quashed the communication by the Passport Officer and directed Regional Passport Office, Bhopal to renew the passport of the...

[Custody Battle] Father's Consent For Renewing Child's Passport Not Required If Mother Files Declaration As Per Passport Rules: MP High Court

Anukriti Mishra

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