Soon, guidelines for passport applications of unwed women's children

The Bombay high court on Monday said it would frame guidelines for Passport Authorities for issuing passports to children of unwed mothers.

Advocate R A Moray appearing for one of the petitioners said the court is likely to frame the questions on March 2, and has asked for suggestions, on the basis of which the guidelines will be framed.

Among the few suggestions made by the court included guidelines with regards to children of unwed mothers, children not wanting to put their biological father's name in applications, cases where fathers don't want their names included, and non-adoptive children.

The court has also asked the union government to put on record any treaties or agreements signed by India with any country with regards to inclusion of father's name in the passport and whether such inclusion is due to security concerns.

The bench is hearing a bunch of petitions challenging rejection of applications after the regional passport office insisted on using biological father's name. It was of the opinion that the issue would come up again in several matters. On January 23, the bench was informed that passports were subsequently issued to the petitioners.

The draft guidelines relate to making suitable changes in standing instructions and passport manual, for putting all passport-related instructions on the official website, and departmental inquiry against officials when passport refusal cannot be justified.

The bench noted in its order that "as this is an important issue and many petitions are filed in this court, we would like to settle these legal issues."