Punjab

Faridkot

CC/16/52

Surinder Kaur - Complainant(s)

Versus

Passport Officer - Opp.Party(s)

Gurpreet Singh Chauhan

20 Sep 2016

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT

Complaint No. :          52

Date of Institution:      18.02.2016

Date of Decision :       20.09.2016

 

Surinder Kaur Chauhan w/o Harpreet Singh Chauhan, r/o Village Dhilwan Khurd, Tehsil & District Faridkot.

...Complainant

Versus

1. Passport Officer, Passport Seva Kendra Amritsar, 14 Mall Road, Near Custom Chowk, Amritsar.

2. Head Master, Govt High School Mumara, Tehsil and District Faridkot.

3. Chief Medical Officer, Shree Muktsar Sahib.

                                               ....Opposite parties

   Complaint under Section 12 of the

   Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

    

   Quorum:     Sh Ajit Aggarwal, President,

   Sh P Singla, Member.

   Present:       Sh G S Chauhan, Ld Counsel for complainant,    

                      Sh R S Romana, Ld Counsel for OP-1,

                       Sh Gurtej Singh, Representative of OP- 3,

                       OP-2 Exparte,

    (Ajit Aggarwal, President)

                                           Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against Ops seeking directions to OP-1 to reissue the passport of the complainant and also to withdraw the letter dated 18.12.2015 and for further                                         directing OPs to pay Rs.1,00,000/- as compensation for mental agony and harassment besides Rs.5500/-as litigation expenses.

   2                                           Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that complainant holds a passport bearing no.E5090116 issued by Chandigarh office with validity period from 28.07.2003 to 27.07.2013. Two years back, complainant noticed that place of birth in her passport is written wrong as place of her birth is Shree Muktsar Sahib, but it is wrongly mentioned as Balauch Kera in her passport. As her passport was expired, therefore, on 10.06.2013, complainant applied before OP-1 for reissuance of passport alongwith request to change the place of birth on her passport. OPs accepted all the documents, issued acknowledgment for the same and also  cancelled the previous passport, but even after expiry of three months, complainant did not receive her passport and status of her passport was pending. Complainant was in urgent need of passport as her family case was getting late due to her passport only and after correction on her passport, she had to apply for the passport of her minor child Samarpreet Singh Chauhan because there is need of passport of both the parents at the time of issuing the passport to the child. Complainant contacted OP-1, but OP-1 did not do anything to reissue the passport with change in the place of birth. After that, complainant issued legal notice  dated 25.09.2013 to OPs, but they did not give any reply. On 30.07.2014, complainant filed an application under Right to Information Act to know the reason for not sending passport with changed birth place, but even then, Ops did not give any reply. Thereafter, on 11.09.2014, complainant filed appeal of RTI Application to the First Appellate Authority, Amritsar, but Appellate Authority neither gave any reply, nor took any action to release her passport. Complainant waited for a long time, but every time status of passport was shown as pending. In July, 2015, complainant approached OP-1, who informed her that Verification Report of her birth certificate was sent to OP-3, but OP-3 did not send the same to OP-1. OP-1 also informed her that School Identification was also not sent by OP-2 to OP-1. On 6.08.2015, complainant filed application under Right to Information Act before OP-3, but OP-3 did not give any reply. It is further submitted that complainant is working as teacher in Government High School, Mumara /Op-2 and on 13.08.2015, OP-2 received letter dated 26.06.2015 from OP-1 regarding confirmation of Identity Certificate (NOC) within 10 working days, but as per information given by OP-2, said letter dt 26.06.2015 was received by OP-2 on 13.08.2015 and they sent the reply of same on 18.08.2015 alongwith confirmation of NOC and Identity Card. On 18.12.2015, OP-1 sent a letter to complainant with allegation that there was no response from complainant side and due to this the application of complainant is closed by OP-1. All this act of Ops is quite wrong as complainant remained in touch with OP-1 and also submitted all the requisite documents to OP-1 for reissuance of her passport and to get changed the birth place mentioned on passport, but OP-1 did not do anything to resolve the matter, rather issued letter dated 18.12.2015 to complainant without going through the merits of the passport application of complainant. This act of Ops is quite wrong and illegal and it amounts to deficiency in service and trade mal practice on the part of Ops and she has prayed for compensation and litigation expenses besides the main relief. Hence, the instant complaint.

   3                                            The Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 23.02.2016, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite party.

 4                                      On receipt of notice, OP-1 filed reply taking preliminary objections that complaint filed by complainant is not maintainable in this Forum and it is bad for misjoinder of necessary parties as Union of India, Ministry of External Affairs New Delhi was not made party to the complaint.    No cause of action arises against answering OP and complainant does not fall under the definition of consumer and this Forum has no jurisdiction to and try the present complaint. Complainant has not come to the Forum with clean hands and has suppressed the material fact that earlier complainant applied for issuance of passport in the name of Surinder Kaur Bhullar d/o Gurbachan Singh on 27.05.2013 and in that application, she had mentioned her place of birth as Balauch Kera, Muktsar. Alongwith application, complainant submitted copy of matriculation certificate issued by Punjab School Education Board in year 1999, copy of Ration Card, one affidavit dt 31.03.2013 and that personal particular form of complainant was referred to Policy Verification Authority and accordingly, Passport No.E5090116 dt 28.07.2003 was issued to complainant with place of birth as Balauch Kera as per information  given by complainant and therefore, there was no clerical mistake on the part of Passport Authorities. Thereafter, on 10.06.2013, complainant again applied for reissuance of Passport in her married name as Surinder Kaur Chauhan by enclosing copy of passport mentioning the place of birth as Muktsar instead of Balauch Kera. Legal notice to this effect, issued by complainant was replied vide letter dated 31.10.2013 wherein complainant was requested to meet the Passport Authorities and on this, complainant visited their office alongwith her birth certificate on 3.02.2014 vide registration no.1064. Answering OP wrote letters to employer of complainant for verification of NOC and also wrote letter dated 7.02.2014 to Local Registrar, Births and Deaths, Nagar Council, Shri Muktsar Sahib for seeking report regarding genuineness of her Birth Certificate and thereafter, also issued reminders dated 1.12.2014, 12.06.2015 and 22.07.2015 to Registrar of Births and Deaths, Shri Muktsar Sahib, but they did not give any response and then, under compelling circumstances, they had to close the file of complainant as they could not hold the file for an indefinite period and after that vide letter dated 18.12.2015, they intimated complainant about this fact and advised her to apply again. However, on merits, they have reiterated the pleadings taken in preliminary objections and prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.

5                                     OP-3 filed written statement taking preliminary objections that complainant has no come to the court with clear and well conversant facts as Birth Certificate of Surinder Kaur/complainant is not issued by OP-3, rather it is issued by Local Registrar of Births & Deaths, Nagar Council, Shri Muktsar Sahib and thus, complainant without knowing the real facts has levelled the false allegations against answering OP. Moreover, complainant did not send her Identity Proof to the P.I.O, Office of Chief Medical Officer, Shri Muktsar Sahib. However, on merits, OP-3 has denied all the allegations levelled by complainant being wrong and incorrect and asserted that no verification letter of birth certificate of complainant was received by OP-3. It is further asserted that complainant filed application under Right to Information Act which was received by answering OP at receipt no.4322 dated 11.08.2015, but information was denied vide letter dated 12.08.2015 as there was no proof of identification attached, which is mandatory under Right to Information Act. All the other allegations levelled by complainant are denied being wrong and incorrect and prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.

6                                Notice containing copy of complaint alongwith relevant documents was issued to OP-2, but same did not receive back undelivered and even after expiry of statutory period, OP-2 did not appear in the Forum either in person or through Counsel to pursue the case and therefore, vide detailed order dt 4.04.2016, OP-2 was proceeded against exparte.

7                                     Parties were given proper opportunities to prove their respective case. The complainant tendered in evidence his affidavit Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to C-21 and then, closed the evidence.

  8                                           In order to rebut the evidence of the complainant, Ld Counsel for OP-1 tendered affidavit of Raj Kumar as Ex OP-1/1 and document Ex OP-2/2 and then, closed the same. Ld Counsel for OP-3 also tendered in evidence affidavit of Sh Ram Lal, Civil Surgeon as Ex OP-3/1 and his supplementary affidavit Ex OP-3/2 and then, closed the same.

9                                        Ld Counsel for complainant vehementally argued that complainant is having a passport bearing no.E5090116 issued by Chandigarh office with validity period from 28.07.2003 to 27.07.2013. Two years back, complainant noticed that place of birth in her passport is written wrong as place of her birth is Shree Muktsar Sahib, but it is wrongly mentioned as Balauch Kera in her passport. As her passport was expired, therefore, on 10.06.2013, she applied before OP-1 for reissuance of passport with request to change the place of birth on her passport. OPs accepted all the documents, issued acknowledgment for the same and also cancelled the previous passport, but even after expiry of three months, complainant did not receive her passport and status of her passport was pending. Complainant was in urgent need of passport as her family case was getting late due to her passport only and after correction on her passport, she had to apply for the passport of her minor child Samarpreet Singh Chauhan because there is need of passport of both the parents for issuance of passport to child. Complainant contacted OP-1, but OP-1 did not do anything to reissue the passport with change in the place of birth. After that, complainant issued legal notice  dated 25.09.2013 to OPs, but they did not give any reply. On 30.07.2014, complainant filed an application under Right to Information Act to know the reason for not sending her passport with changed birth place, but even then, Ops did not give any reply. Thereafter, on 11.09.2014, complainant filed appeal of RTI Application to the First Appellate Authority, Amritsar, but Appellate Authority neither  gave any reply, nor took any action to release her passport. After waiting for long period, in July, 2015, complainant approached OP-1, who informed her that Verification Report of her birth certificate was sent to OP-3, but OP-3 did not send the same to OP-1. OP-1 also informed her that School Identification was also not sent by OP-2 to OP-1. On 6.08.2015, complainant filed application under Right to Information Act before OP-3, but it did not give any reply. It is further submitted that complainant is working as teacher in Government High School, Mumara /Op-2 and on 13.08.2015, OP-2 received letter dated 26.06.2015 from OP-1 regarding confirmation of Identity Certificate (NOC) within 10 working days, but as per information given by OP-2, said letter dt 26.06.2015 was received by OP-2 on 13.08.201 and they sent the reply of same on 18.08.2015 alongwith confirmation of NOC and Identity Card. On 18.12.2015, OP-1 sent a letter to complainant with allegation that there was no response from complainant side and due to this the application of complainant is closed by OP-1. All this act of Ops is quite wrong as complainant remained in touch with OP-1 and also submitted all the requisite documents to OP-1 for reissuance of her passport and to get changed the birth place mentioned on passport, but OP-1 did not do anything to resolve the matter, rather issued letter dated 18.12.2015 to complainant without going through the merits of the passport application of complainant. This act of Ops is quite wrong and amounts to deficiency in service. Prayer for accepting the complaint is made.

10                                           To controvert the allegations levelled by complainant, Ld Counsel for OP-1 argued before the Forum that complaint filed by her is not maintainable in this Forum and it is bad for misjoinder of necessary parties as Union of India, Ministry of External Affairs New Delhi was not made party to the complaint. It is argued that no cause of action arises against answering OP and complainant is not their consumer and this Forum has no jurisdiction to hear and try the present complaint. Complainant has not come to the Forum with clean hands and has suppressed the material fact that earlier complainant had applied for issuance of passport in the name of Surinder Kaur Bhullar d/o Gurbachan Singh on 27.05.2003 and in that application, she had mentioned her place of birth as Balauch Kera, Muktsar. Alongwith application, complainant submitted copy of matriculation certificate issued by Punjab School Education Board in year 1999, copy of Ration Card, one affidavit dt 31.03.2003 and that personal particular form of complainant was referred to Policy Verification Authority and accordingly, Passport No.E5090116 dt 28.07.2003 was issued to complainant with place of birth as Balauch Kera as per information given by complainant and thus, there was no clerical mistake on the part of Passport Authorities. Thereafter, on 10.06.2013, complainant again applied for reissuance of Passport in her married name as Surinder Kaur Chauhan by enclosing copy of passport mentioning the place of birth as Muktsar instead of Balauch Kera. Legal notice to this effect, issued by complainant was replied vide letter dated 31.10.2013 wherein complainant was requested to meet the Passport Authorities and on this, complainant visited their office alongwith her birth certificate on 3.02.2014 vide Regn no.1064. OP wrote letters to employer of complainant for verification of NOC and also wrote letter dated 7.02.2014 to Local Registrar, Births and Deaths, Nagar Council, Shri Muktsar Sahib for seeking report regarding genuineness of her Birth Certificate and thereafter, also issued reminders dated 1.12.2014, 12.06.2015 and 22.07.2015 to Registrar of Births and Deaths, Shri Muktsar Sahib, but they did not give any response and then, under compelling circumstances, they had to close the file of complainant as they could not hold the file for an indefinite period and after that vide letter dated 18.12.2015, they intimated complainant about this fact and advised her to apply again. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs and have prayed for dismissal of complaint.

11                                            Ld Counsel for OP- 3 has repelled all the allegations levelled by complainant being wrong and incorrect and argued that complainant has not come to the court with clear and well conversant facts as Birth Certificate of Surinder Kaur/complainant is not issued by OP-3, rather it is issued by Local Registrar of Births & Deaths, Nagar Council, Shri Muktsar Sahib and thus, complainant without knowing the real facts has levelled the false allegations against answering OP. Moreover, complainant did not send her Identity Proof to the P.I.O Office of Chief Medical Officer, Shri Muktsar Sahib. OP-3 has denied all the allegations levelled by complainant being wrong and incorrect and asserted that no verification letter of birth certificate of complainant was received by OP-3. It is further asserted that complainant filed application under Right to Information Act which was received by answering OP at receipt no.4322 dated 11.08.2015, but information was denied vide letter dated 12.08.2015 as there was no proof of identification attached, which is mandatory under Right to Information Act. Prayer for dismissal of complaint is made.

12                               We have heard the ld Counsel for complainant and Ops and have carefully scrutinized the record place on file. From the aforementioned discussion, it is observed that main contention of complainant is that she applied for reissuance of Passport with OPs alongwith request to change of name of her birth place from Balauch Kera to Shri Muktsar Sahib, but instead of correcting the name of birth place from Balauch Kera to Shri Muktsar Sahib, OP-1 closed her file without any reason. In reply, OP-1 denied all the allegations of complainant and asserted that they wrote letters to employer of complainant regarding verification of NOC and also wrote letter dated 7.02.2014 to Local Registrar, Births and Deaths, Nagar Council, Shri Muktsar Sahib for seeking report pertaining to genuineness of her Birth Certificate and thereafter, also issued reminders dated 1.12.2014, 12.06.2015 and 22.07.2015 to Registrar of Births and Deaths, Shri Muktsar Sahib, but they did not give any response and then, under compelling circumstances, they had to close the file of complainant as they could not hold the file for an indefinite period and after that vide letter dated 18.12.2015, they intimated complainant about this fact and advised her to apply again. Op-1 reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs and have prayed for dismissal of complaint. OP-3 has also denied all the allegations of complainant and prayed for dismissal of complaint.

13                              From the careful perusal of record and from the above discussion, this Forum is of considered opinion that it is admitted case of the parties that earlier complainant was having a passport issued by Chandigarh office, which was valid from 28.07.2003 to 27.07.2013 stating the place of birth of complainant as Balauch Khera. Further it is also admitted that on 10.06.2013, complainant applied for reissuance of her passport alongwith request to change the place of birth as Shri Muktsar Sahib instead of village Balauch Khera. Alongwith her application, she submitted all the required documents and her old passport, but plea of OP-1 is that after receiving the application from complainant, they wrote letter to Local Registrar of Births & Deaths, Nagar Council, Shri Muktsar Sahib for seeking report regarding genuineness of birth certificate submitted by the complainant, but there is no response from the Registrar, Births & Deaths and they also issued reminders to Registrar, Births & Deaths, Shri Muktsar Sahib, but they did not give any response and under compelling circumstances, they closed the file of complainant. The complainant produced copy of letter 8.12.2015, vide which OP-1 closed her file. In this letter, they mentioned that in the absence of any response from your side till date, your file stands closed, whereas, complainant argued that from the very beginning they are in contact with OP-1 and they approached them many times. They also issued legal notice and also filed RTI application seeking information that why her passport is not issued. They produced copy of legal notice and RTI application and appeals  as Ex C-5 to 17. So, the OPs cannot say that there was no response from the complainant side. So, they closed her file for issuance of passport. However, if on their letter, the Local Registrar, Births & Deaths, Shri Muktsar Sahib seeking information regarding genuineness of birth certificate of complainant, the Local Registrar, Births & Deaths did not give any response, then it is not the fault of complainant. The complainant produced copy of her birth certificate as Ex C-20 and to prove the genuineness of this birth certificate, she summoned the concerned official of office of Local Registrar, Births & Deaths, Nagar Council, Shri Muktsar Sahib in her evidence and Sh Sukhdarshan Singh, SA, Nagar Council, Shri Muktsar Sahib appeared on behalf of Local Registrar, Births & Deaths Shri Muktsar Sahib alongwith concerned record and stated that as per record at Sr. No. 1064 dated 14.10.1982 an entry regarding the birth of Smt Surinder Kaur d/o Gurbachan Singh is entered and as per record, the date of birth of said Surinder Kaur is 10.10.1982 and place of birth is Shri Muktsar Sahib. He produced attested copy of his record as Ex C-21 and also proved that birth certificate Ex C-20 is issued by their office and as such, he duly proved the genuineness of birth certificate.

14                                          From the perusal of record and above discussion, this Forum is of considered opinion that OP-1 wrongly and illegally not issued the passport to complainant after making change in place of birth as Shri Muktsar Sahib instead of Balauch Khera. Therefore, complainant is entitled to get her passport reissued. Hence, complaint in hand is hereby allowed. OP-1 is directed to issue the passport to complainant after making necessary correction in the place of birth as Shri Muktsar Sahib instead of Balauch Khera within 30 days of receipt of the copy of this order. Complaint against OP-2 and 3 stands dismissed. Compliance of this order be made within one month from the date of receipt of copy of the order, failing which complainant shall be entitled to proceed to under Section 25 and 27 of Consumer Protection Act. Copy of order be supplied to parties free of costs as per rules. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in open Forum:

Dated: 20.09.2016                     

Member                            President                                     (P Singla)                            (Ajit Aggarwal)