More officials can issue verification certificates for passport applicants now

January 8th 2007

HYDERABAD: Even the station house officer (SI or CI as the case maybe) of the police station of your area or your mandal revenue officer can now issue a verification certificate so as to enable you to apply for a tatkal passport. This has been made possible following the simplification of the passport issuance procedures by the Ministry of External Affairs. Giving the details, Regional Passport Officer, B. Balabhaskar said on Sunday that the list of officers authorised to issue verification certificates for obtaining a tatkal passport was expanded.

The new members (Issuing Authorities)

Officers of the rank of under secretary and above in the Government of India or the State Government were already authorised to issue the certificate. The list now includes sub-divisional magistrates, first class judicial magistrates, officers of the rank of Major and above in armed forces, apart from MRO or SI or CI of the area.

This apart, one could apply for a passport under tatkal and obtain a passport of normal validity of 10 years, by submitting any three of the 14 documents prescribed by the ministry, along with an affidavit. However, one of them must be a photo identity document. The list of 14 documents is: elector's photo ID card; service ID cards issued by State/Central Government offices, public sector undertakings, local bodies or public limited companies, SC/ST/OBC certificate, freedom fighters ID cards, arms licences, property documents such as pattas or registered deeds, ration cards, pension documents, railway ID cards, PAN cards or income tax identity, bank/kisan/post office passbooks, students ID cards issued by educational institutions, driving licences, and or birth certificates issued under Registration of Births and Deaths Act.

No NOC (for Govt. Employees)

Government employees need not submit a no-objection certificate now. They should produce an identity certificate issued by their employer. Chairmen of business organisations like FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM could also issue verification certificates in respect of owners, partners or directors of member companies. Minors could also obtain passports without either of their parents having a passport.

Source: Hindu

Procedure for applying a Passport - Tatkal Scheme - Very Informative

First of all, I would like to thank all my blog visitors who showered comments, queries and appreciations to few of my useful posts... I appreciate all those people who spend some their valuable time on replying back to my posts with comments. As a response to it, I would like to share something very important and useful post today! Yes, it is about applying passport through tatkal scheme.

Preface: All of us know that we need movie tickets to enter a cinema and watch a specific movie, but most of us reach theatres only at last minute and never hesitate to spend 2 to 5 times of the ticket price to purchase the same at black. Similar is the case with planning a trip (booking flight or train tickets), thank god there is an option of purchasing train tickets through tatkal at a minimal extra charge. 

We have an option of going for an advance booking or prior purchasing, but very few will opt for it. Reasons may be many but I would strongly suggest all my friends and blog visitors to follow - precaution is better than cure - policy. I mean plan well in advance for everything!

Coming to the current topic, if someone wants to apply a passport through general scheme - with all the required documents (Valid Address Proof, Valid DOB Proof, Educational Certificates for ECNR) readily available - then it will hardly take two months time for him/her to get the passport delivered to his/her door step. Thanks to the government initiative called Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs), which is making it reality. 

Note: In case of genuine and knowledgeable citizen's application the time required to process and dispatch the passport is less than a month's time - under speedy process (with sincere passport authorities and police verification officers donning their jobs). Practical Example is my mother-in-law's application, she got her passport within 20 days from her final submission. 

However, if one wants to get the passport in less than 15 days from submission, with all the basic necessary documents (apart from the crucial Verification Certificate from IAS/IPS/....) then the below information is most valuable and of great use....

Annexure I - Format - Passport Application - Tatkal

On Rs.20/- Stamp Paper

Annexure “I”

I, <<[APPLICANT’S NAME]>>, S/o. or D/o. or W/o. <<[FATHER’S or HUSBAND’S NAME]>>, Resident of <<[FULL ADDRESS]>>, Date of Birth: <<[DATE OF BIRTH]>> being an applicant for issue of passport, do hereby solemnly affirm and state as follows:

Annexure F - Format - Passport Application - Tatkal

On the Official Stationary (Letter Head) of the Official (IAS/IPS etc.,) 

with the photograph of the applicant

Verification Certificate 

This is to certify that [Applicant’s Name] son of (or) wife of [Father’s / Husband’s Name] whose personal particulars are given below has good moral character and reputation and that after having read the provisions of Section 6(2) of the Passports Act, 1967.  I certify that these provisions are not attracted in case of this applicant and I, recommend issue of an Indian Passport to him/her.  Applicant has been staying at his address continuously for the last one year.

Tatkal Passport in 3 days with 3 Passport Seva Kendras in Hyderabad now

One of the other best initiative from the Government of India is that it has set up three (3) Passport Seva Kendras in Hyderabad itself and in total 77 PSKs across the country! Please read the below article from The New Indian Express, it's an official announcement!

HYDERABAD: To discourage mediators’ involvement and provide timely services in a transparent manner, the Regional Passport Office here has set up Passport Seva Kendras in the twin cities and at Vijayawada, Tirupati and Nizamabad.

Speaking to mediamen here on Tuesday, regional passport officer K Srikar Reddy said the Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) would function shortly. The state capital will have three kendras, one each at Ameerpet, Tolichowki and Begumpet. These will be functioning from November 25.

“Applicants need not stand in long queues and wait endlessly in front of the Regional Passport Office in Secunderabad to submit applications. They can visit passport office’s website and book a slot.

After being assigned the application number, the applicants can approach the nearest PSK and submit their bona-fidess. We will issue normal passport in 30 days and Tatkal passport in three days,’’ he said.

Reddy said the passport department launched 77 PSKs across the country in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in private-public partnership mode. TCS will assist the passport department through outsourcing in issuing passports in a jiffy. The department will get police enquiry details online. “As many as 2,000 passports a day will be issued to applicants through the PSKs in the twin cities. The new initiative will help us in preventing private agents’ involvement.’’

The RPO said that they would set up one passport centre at each district headquarters to deliver passport-related services in a timely, transparent, more accessible and reliable manner and in a comfortable environment through streamlined processes and committed, trained and motivated work force.

With fake passport cases being reported in the twin cities, he said, they identified as many as 100 applicants and sent their documents to the Election Commission for verification. As of now, they received the report that 10 of the applicants submitted fake proofs and they asked the city police for necessary action against them.

For more details and to apply for a passport online, one can visit http://www.ap.nic.in/passport

Hyderabad | Posted on Nov 23, 2011 at 09:17am IST

Source: Express News Service , The New Indian Express
Click on Read More for Hindu Article, which has more information.