Passports Act 1967
(15 of 1967)
Statement of Objects and Reasons :
Prior to the decision of the Supreme Court in Satwant Singh Sawlmey v. Union of India (W.P. No. 236 of 1966), passports were issued by the Government in the exercise of its executive power to conduct foreign relations. A passport was considered to be essentially a political document, issued in the name of the President of India to the Governments of, or authorities in, foreign countries requesting them to afford facilities of safe travel to the holder in their territories and to provide him necessary assistance and protection. The presence abroad of a passport holder and the manner in which he conducts himself while there, the treatment meted out to him by foreign Governments and authorities necessarily bring into play the relations between India and the foreign countries concerned. Government might have to protect his interests abroad vis-a-vis the foreign State and might also have to arrange his repatriation to India at public expense, should he become destitute or a public charge. For all these and other reasons such as diplomatic and consular practice and usage and international practice and usage, Government had claimed an absolute discretion in the matter of issuance of passports, though it had taken adequate precautions by issuing suitable administrative instructions to ensure that the power was not used in an arbitrary manner. The majority decision of the Supreme Court in the case aforementioned denied the Government any such absolute power though minority upheld Government’s view point. The majority held inter alia that the right to travel abroad is a part of a person’s personal liberty of which he could not be. deprived except according to procedure established by law in terms of article 21 of the Constitution and as there was no law establishing such procedure, the Government had no right to refuse a passport to any person who might have applied for the same. The majority also held that Government’s claim for an absolute discretion in the matter of issusance of passports would also be violative of article 14 of the Constitution. It thus became urgently necessary to regulate the issuance of passports and travel documents by law. As Parliament was not in session, an Ordinance, namely, Passports Ordinance, 1967 was promulgated for the purpose.
(2) The Ordinance prohibited the departure from India of any person without a passport or travel document. It provided for the machinery necessary for the issuance of passport. It also provided for the procedure for obtaining passports and travel documents and clearly defined the grounds on which passports or travel documents or endorsements on passports or travel documents for visit to any foreign country might be refused. The Ordinance also made provisions for impounding or revocation of passports or travel documents and clearly defined the grounds for such impounding or revocation. Suitable provisions were incorporated in the Ordinance as to appeals against orders of refusal of passports or endorsements, revocation or impounding of passports, etc.
(3) The present Bill seeks to replace the Ordinance by an Act of Parliament. The Notes un Clauses explain the various provisions of the Bill.
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Amendment Act 31 of 1978-Statement of Objects and Reasons :
Section 5(1) of the Passports Act, 1967 provides that all applications for the issue of a passport shall be in such form, contain such particulars and be accompanied by such fee (if any) not exceeding rupees twenty-five as may be prescribed. Presently, the fee payable in respect of a passport (valid for five years from the date of issue) is rupees twenty-five, being the maximum prescribed under the Act.
From 1st June, 1960 until December, 1971, the fee for an ordinary passport remained unchanged at rupees fifteen. The passports were then valid for only three years. The fee was revised from 1st December, 1971 to rupees twenty-five and at the same time, the period of validity of the passport was increased from three to five years. Thus, since 1st June, 1960, for a period of seventeen and a half years, the fee has remained constant at rupees five per annum.
The cost of providing passport services in India has gone up in these years owing not only to increase in salaries and allowances of the personnel employed in Passport Offices but also due to the increase in accommodation charges and increase in the cost of equipments and services which the Passport Offices need. Similarly, the cost of providing passport services abroad has also increased sharply owing to inflation in foreign countries. The fee fixed under the Passport Rules, 1967 is charged from every Indian citizen whether the application is made in India or abroad.
At present, there are nine Regional Passport Offices. Of these, some cover more than one State and very large areas. For example, the Regional Passport Office in Delhi covers Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Rajasthan, the Office in Lucknow covers Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the Office in Calcutta covers West Bengal, Orissa and all the north-eastern States, and the Madras Office covers both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In order to provide a better service to the public in the States which do not have a Passport Office, it would be necessary to open more Regional Passport Offices.
For the above reasons, it is considered necessary to increase the fee in respect of a passport for visiting foreign countries, other than a foreign country to be specified by rules, from rupees twenty-five to rupees fifty and the fee thus increased will also cover the postal charges for despatching the passport by registered post to the applicant. In respect of a passport for visiting a foreign country to be specified by rules, the fee will be at such rate not exceeding the maximum mentioned in the legislation.
It is also proposed to specify that a person who makes an application on or after the date of introduction of the Bill in Parliament for the issue or renewal of a passport will be required to pay, after the Bill becomes law, the difference between the fee as approved in the legislation and the fee already paid by him.
Opportunity is being taken to amend the relevant sections in the Act
(a) to make references to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 since the earlier laws on the subject have been repealed; and
(b) for modifying the rule laying formula to bring it in conformity with the recommendation of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation.
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Amendment Act 35 of 1993-Statement of Objects and Reasons :
On the basis of the experience gained in the administration of the Passports Act, 1967, it is found necessary to amend the said Act for its better administration.
(2) The Bill proposes, inter alia,
(a) to empower the Central Government to prescribe the fee by rules taking into consideration the actual expenditure to be incurred in designing and preparation of the passport booklet;
(b) to provide for extension of validity period of passport issued for a shorter period;
(c) for impounding other passports of the holder of a passport if he obtains a passport by suppression of material information, etc.;
(d) to enhance the punishment from six months imprisonment to two years imprisonment and from two thousand rupees to five thousand rupees fine for the offences under section 12;
(e) to make a new provision providing for stringent punishment for a person who is not a citizen of India if he makes or obtains a passport by suppression of information about his nationality, etc.
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Amendment Act 22 of 2002-Statement of Objects and Reasons :
There was no statutory provision in the Passports Act, 1967 to prevent a person indulging in criminal or anti-national activities from leaving the country during the period when action to revoke or impound his passport was initiated under section 10 of the said Act. The Passports (Amendment) Ordinance, 2001 (Ord. 8 of 2001) was promulgated by the President on the 23rd day of October, 2001, so as to-
(a) insert a new section 10-A in the Passports Act, 1967, conferring power upon the Central Government or the designated officer to suspend the passport or travel document for a period not exceeding four weeks if it or he was satisfied that the passport or travel document was likely to be impounded or caused to be impounded or revoked under clause (c) of sub-section (3) of section 10 of the said Act; .
(b) confer power upon the Central Government or the designated officer to extend the said period of four weeks till the proceedings relating to variation, impounding or revocation of the passport or travel document under section 10 of the Passports Act, 1967 were concluded;
(c) insert a new section 10-B in the Passports Act, 1967, validating the intimations given, before the commencement of the Passports (Amendment) Ordinance, 2001 (Ord. 8 of 2001), by the Central Government or the designated officer to any immigration authority restricting or in any manner prohibiting the departure from India of any holder of the passport or travel document tinder sub-section (3) of section 10 of the Passports Act, 1967.
2. Before the promulgation of the Ordinance, the concerned authorities were issuing “Look Out Circulars” to prevent such persons from leaving the country.
3. The Passports (Amendment) Bill, 2001 for replacing the said Ordinance was introduced on the 22nd November, 2001 in the Rajya Sabha. Subsequent to the introduction of the said Bill, a notice to move the following amendments to amend the Bill was given on the 11th December, 2001, namely:-
(a) to provide that every holder of the passport or travel document, in respect of whom an order under clause (a) or clause (b) of section 10-A of the Passports Act, 1967 had been passed, shall be given an opportunity of being heard within a period of not later than eight weeks reckoned from the date of passing of such order and thereupon the Central Government may, if necessary by order in writing, modify or revoke the order passed under that section;
(b) to withdraw the powers of the State Governments to designate officers to suspend the passport or travel document under section 10-A.
4. The Passports (Amendment) Bill, 2001 and the above amendments are pending in the Council of States.
5. The Passports (Amendment) Ordinance, 2001 (Ord. 8 of 2001) would have lapsed after the expiry of six weeks from the date of reassembly of Parliament, i.e., the 19th November, 2001. In view of the prevailing security scenario and to provide continuity to the Passports (Amendment) Ordinance, 2001 (Ord. 8 of 2001), the President was pleased to promulgate the Passports (Amendment) Second Ordinance, 2001 (Ord. 11 of 2001) containing the provisions of the Passports (Amendment) Bill, 2001 as introduced in the Rajya Sabha and also incorporating therein the above amendments.
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An Act to provide for the issue of passports and travel documents to regulate the departure from India of citizens of India and other persons and for matters incidental or ancillary thereto.
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Eighteenth Year of the Republic of India as follows:
Section 1 :
Short title and extent :
(1) This Act may be called The Passports Act , 1967.
(2) It extends to the whole of India and applies also to citizens of India who are outside India.
