Punjab & Haryana HC: Passport Not Revoked for Minor Mistakes

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that an unintentional mistake such as wrongly pronouncing or recording the ex-husband’s name of a woman while she was applying for a passport cannot be grounds for its revocation under the Passports Act.

Case Background

In 2015, the woman (divorced in 2011) had applied for a renewal of her passport through a travel agent. In the process, the first husband was mistakenly entered as her spouse. The current husband complained in 2023 to the passport authorities after the woman remarried, triggering action being taken.

Court’s Ruling

It was held by Justice Harsh Bunger that such accidental mistakes are not misrepresentation or fraud. Thus, Section 10(3)(b) of the Passports Act applies to cases of deliberate concealment or mischief and not to honest errors.

Key Takeaway

This ensures that minor, unconscious errors in passport applications will not be unduly penalized with the extra flavor of fairness being forced into administrative processes.

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