It would now be possible for a child to use the name of her biological mother, instead of her step mom in her passport and change that when she desires. This will happen, because the Punjab and Haryana High Court reacted positively to an application last Thursday (July 16) and directed the passport authorities to change the name on a girl’s passport from her stepmother to her biological mother.
The girl, who is the applicant, is applying to a foreign university. While doing so, she found that all her other documents, barring her passport, bore the name of her biological mother.
A single-judge bench of Justice B.S. Walia, agreed to the girl’s counsel, that: “The Passport Manual merely contains guidelines, thus the same cannot be used to deny mentioning of correct particulars regarding the name of the petitioner’s biological mother in the passport.”
The counsel appearing for the passport authority had submitted: “…the Passport Manual name of stepfather/ mother can be written in the passport of a minor against the column of father/ mother on submission of the death certificate of biological father/ mother, remarriage… but when the child applies for passport first time upon attaining majority, he/ she has the option to retain the name of the biological parent or step-parent, as recorded in his Birth Certificate/ educational certificate but not thereafter.”
However, the court pressed on the petitioner’s counsel and directed the passport authority to process the request of the petitioner and issue a fresh passport to her, within 10 days.
– India Legal Bureau