The recent assertion by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that a passport is a travel document and not conclusive proof of citizenship triggered a huge row, with the Opposition Congress criticising the government’s stance.
Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also asked the government to specify which particular document people in the country can rely on to prove their citizenship, especially when it has been stated that passports, Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and voter IDs alone are not sufficient to prove citizenship.
She further asked the government to clarify if India’s passport is also issued to non-Indians.
Another Opposition leader, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi also claimed that Section 6(2)(a) of the Passport Act, 1967 states that a passport can only be issued to an Indian citizen.
“If a person is not a citizen, a passport cannot be granted,” Owaisi claimed.
Govt’s clarification
Reacting to the criticism, the government issued a clarification, saying the controversy has been triggered due to confusion over a long-standing legal position.
It said that passport is a travel document and not a proof of citizenship is a long-established legal position that has not been decided just yesterday or in the last 12 years.
What the Passports Act says
The Passports Act, 1967, which extends to the whole of India and applies also to citizens of India who are outside India, recognises the document as “Passport or travel document for departure from India.”
The Act mentions that no person shall depart from, or attempt to depart from, India unless he holds in this behalf a valid “passport or travel document”.
Can a passport be issued to a person who is not a citizen of India?
The short answer is yes. The Act empowers the Government of India to issue a “passport or travel document” to a person who is not a citizen of India.
When Owaisi claimed that under Section 6(2)(a) of the Act, the passport authority can refuse a passport if the applicant is not a citizen of India, he was partially correct.
Under the Section 6(2)(a), the authority can reject an application for possport if the applicant is not an Indian citizen.
However, under Section 20 of the Passports Act, 1967, the Central Government “may issue, or cause to be issued, a passport or travel document to a person who is not a citizen of India if that Government is of the opinion that it is necessary so to do in the public interest.”
What is the legal position?
According to Maneka Gandhi v Union Of India (1978), a person who holds the Indian passport is “entitled, by virtue of their Indian nationality and passports, to the protection of the Indian Republic and assistance of its Diplomatic Missions abroad.”
However, the Passport Manual says that “a passport provides evidence of the holder’s nationality, but this is placed in the same category as any other evidence of the citizenship status of an individual.”
In a nutshell, the passport is a strong evidence suggesting that its holder is a citizen of India but in the eyes of the law, it may not be considered as conclusive proof of citizenship.