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Govt. back-peddles on 6-month birth certificate requirement for new passports

Jul 17, 2014 News

Amidst pressure, Government has reversed a requirement that mandates new applicants for passports to present birth certificates that were issued within six months prior to the date of application.
But the decision seems a strange one.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday, with immediate effect, “applicants for passports and other travel documents will be required to present original birth certificates that were issued no less than two (2) years prior to the date of submission of the applications, instead of six (6) months.”
The Immigration Department and the Ministry of Home Affairs have been coming under flak after it introduced measures a few weeks ago which required new passport applicants to present a birth certificate which was issued within the last six months. There were arguments that a birth certificate does not have an expiry date.
The measure was to reduce the incidence of fraud, Government had said.
Immediately after, the General Registrar’s Office which is in charge of the issuance of birth certificates, was inundated with applications.
The policy sparked a court case filed by attorney-at-law, Saphier Husain-Subedar who is challenging the legality of the six-month requirement.
The lawyer said that on June 18th, he visited the Immigration Office on Camp Street where his application for a new passport was rejected on the grounds that his birth certificate was older than six months.
The lawyer has filed a case against the Commissioner of Police, in his capacity as the Chief Immigration Officer, asking that he be issued a new passport using his current birth certificate.
The lawyer also wants the current six month rule be deemed as unconstitutional.

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