Passport delivery to become hassle-free, no police verification in case of renewal
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The ministry is set to waive a second police
verification in case of passport renewal
provided the previous police verification was clear.
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MUMBAI/NEW
DELHI: The passport delivery system could soon become hassle-free and
quick. On the directions of the chief passport officer in the ministry
of external affairs, Mumbai may lead the way to do away with cumbersome
processes that currently delay the issuance of a passport.
The ministry is
set to waive a second police verification in case of passport renewal
provided the previous police verification was clear. Fresh guidelines
have been issued so that a renewed passport is delivered at the quickest
possible time by no longer treating the application for renewal as a
fresh one, as is the case till now.
Mumbai police
commissioner Rakesh Maria and regional passport officer T D Sharma have
put into action a plan that seeks to do away with police verification
for other categories of applicants. "Minors, government servants and
senior citizens can now go without verification," Muktesh Pardeshi,
chief passport officer in MEA, said.
"I had a long
meeting with passport officials on time-bound delivery of passport. We
found that on occasions, the police department was blamed for delay in
submitting verification certificate. I have drafted a comprehensive
action plan. The entire exercise of police verification will be
completed within seven working days," Maria told TOI.
Maria said
specific bottlenecks in the police verification process have been
identified and stringent measures taken to ensure that the entire
exercise is completed in a time-bound period. "It was bringing a bad
name to Mumbai Police. In addition, there were charges of corruption
too. I am sure, once the new system comes into force, passport delivery
will be hassle-free," Maria said.
Pardeshi told
TOI, "We have directed that there should be three categories for police
verification in the passport issuance process. First, there is a
pre-police verification, which is mandatory for first-time passports.
Second, the post-police verification, where the verification can be done
after the passport is issued."
According to a
senior official there was delay at several levels — from the newly set
up passport seva kendra to the police station. "The delay was not
deliberate, but there was lack of proper guidelines, as a result of
which there was delay in submitting the police verification documents to
the passport office. In the entire process, the special branch of the
police station was blamed. We have worked out a comprehensive action
plan, there will be no more delays and passport will be delivered within
the stipulated period," he said.
Secondly, on
the renewal of passports too, the ministry of external affairs has
issued fresh guidelines to ensure that the passport is delivered in the
shortest period. So far the convention was that if an application for
renewal of passport is submitted, it was treated as a fresh application
and there was police verification of residential address and all the
documents. Now, it has been made clear that if the earlier police report
is clear and the photograph of the applicant is attached in the
original police report, there would be no need for fresh police
verification. "The revised guidelines will help us in the expeditious
delivery of passports, particularly those submitted for renewal," he
said.
However,
Pardeshi said the passport issuing officer had some discretionary
powers. "If he/she feels police verification is necessary, it will be
done."
Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
