Passport authorities can be held accountable

The passport issued to me is poorly made. The thin, transparent paper that covers the photograph and the information on the inside of the front and the back pages is so badly pasted that every time I pass through immigration (not just in India, but in other countries too), they suspect that it is not a genuine passport and I am subjected to a lot of delays. Can I complain to the consumer court to seek compensation? Do services provided by passport authorities come under purview of the consumer court?

Yes, passport authorities do come under the ambit of the Consumer Protection Act and they can be hauled up before the consumer court for deficient/ negligent service. This was debated in the case of Regional Passport Officer, Bangalore vs Anuradha T. Gopinath ( RP no 2389 of 2008). The highest consumer court, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, in its order of July 10, 2008, held that the passport office was rendering a 'service' for a fee and a consumer can seek redress before the consumer court for any deficient service.

In this case, the passport issuing officer had forgotten to put his signature on the passport, rendering it invalid. This remained undetected even when the passport holder, Anuradha Gopinath applied for a visa to travel to Dubai. When she presented her passport at the airport on the day of travel, the lacuna was detected and Anuradha was sent back. Upset, she filed a complaint before the consumer court. The passport authority argued that the passport officer was exercising a sovereign function and consumer courts had no jurisdiction to adjudicate over any such complaint. It also argued that no payment was made to the officer towards issue of passport, it did not become a consumer case. Dismissing the arguments, the court pointed out that the passport officer was not exercising any sovereign function, but discharging a statutory duty. Since a fee was charged for issuing it, it was a 'service' coming under the jurisdiction of the consumer court. Consumers could seek redress if there were any deficiencies or negligence in that service. It thus upheld the compensation of Rs 10,000 and costs of Rs 2,000 awarded by the lower consumer courts.

In these days of terrorism, when every country puts your passport under a microscope, your passport should be without any blemish. Issuing a shoddily packaged passport, therefore, constitutes callous negligence on the part of the passport authority and it should be held liable for this.

HOME