MARGAO: A woman from Velim got the much-needed relief when the High Court of Bombay at Goa, in a significant order, directed the Regional Passport Officer (RPO), Panjim, to issue her an Indian passport by quashing and setting aside orders of the Joint Secretary and Chief Passport Officer of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and RPO.
It may be recalled that the order of the Joint Secretary and Chief Passport Officer had confirmed the RPO’s order rejecting the 60-year-old’s passport application.
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The petitioner, Lourdes Lobo, was born in Uganda and had travelled to India as a minor and has been living here since then. Her parents were married in Goa as well and the petitioner was educated in Goa and retired as a teacher.
It may be noted that Lobo’s application for an Indian passport was rejected, first by the passport officer on October 3, 2019, who found that the petitioner was not an Indian citizen under Section 6(2)(a) of the Passports Act, 1967. This order was then upheld by the MEA on April 21, 2020, holding that her birth certificate states her parents to be ‘Portuguese Citizens’, and further, that in terms of the provisions of Goa, Daman and Diu (Citizenship) Order, 1962 (Citizenship Order), since she was born in a territory not covered by the order, she was not a citizen of India.
However, Lobo challenged these orders before the High Court and was represented by Advocate Cleofato Almeida Coutinho.
Opposing the petition and supporting the decisions taken by the authorities, government counsel Raviraj Chodankar submitted that the Citizenship Order required the petitioner or her parents to make a declaration in terms of the proviso to Clause (2) thereof, stating that they desired Indian Citizenship, and failure to sign such a declaration, would result in them being aliens. He further submitted that the birth certificate of the petitioner having stated that her parents are ‘Portuguese Citizens’, she has been rightly considered by the authorities not to be a ‘Citizen of India’
The High Court bench comprising Justice Valmiki Sa Menezes and M S Sonak held that ‘the Petitioner was a citizen of India by descent in terms of the Citizenship order, her parents, both being citizens of India by birth’.
“The impugned orders refer to rejection of the application on the ground that the applicant is not a Citizen of India in terms of clause (a) of Sub Section (2) of Section (6). The order of the Passport Officer appears to refer to some adverse information, but does not disclose how this information would constitute any ground for rejecting the application,” said the bench.
“The Appellate Authority appears to have referred to the Citizenship order, but erroneously interprets its provisions to mean that the declaration referred to in the order, was one to be given by all persons who were opting for Indian Citizenship. This interpretation is diametrically opposed to the plain meaning of the provisions of the order which require only persons intending to retain their original citizenship to execute such a declaration. All other persons born in the territory of Goa prior to 20th December, 1961 would be deemed to be Indian citizens,” the bench added.
The Bench added that the ‘the Appellate order also ignored the fact that the Petitioner, though born in Uganda was deemed to be an Indian Citizen by descent’.
“The finding that the passport on which the petitioner travelled with her mother to India does not seem to be an Indian Passport, is also dehors the records and in view of the fact that the petitioner was a citizen of India by descent, the further conclusion that her Citizenship requires to be determined by the Ministry of Home Affairs is also uncalled for and without any basis in any provision of law,” the bench concluded before passing the order in favour of the petitioner.
