The Madras High Court has said that the name of the biological father was not a necessity in application for passports in case the applicant has an adoptive parent.
Passing orders in a writ petition by a woman, who sought a direction to the passport officials to expedite the processing of her application and not to insist on providing the name of her biological father, Justice Vinod K Sharma said in the context of the woman having an adoptive father, the passport officer did not have the right to turn down the application demanding the name of the biological
father.
Divya Menon had said in her petition that her biological parents had divorced and she had been adopted by her step father. All official records, including that of her school, have shown her as the daughter of the adoptive father. Keeping with this line, she had applied for the passport mentioning the name of the adoptive father with the passport officer, Coimbatore. But as the officer had not taken steps to issue the passport, she had approached the court.
In a counter filed on the petition, it was stated that only the biological father’s name need not be used by the applicant and the step-parent could only be recorded as a legal guardian in case appointed by the court.
Rejecting the arguments, Justice Vinod K Sharma said the name of the biological father could not be entered in any record after valid and legal adoption.
The child has to be treated as that of the adoptive parents. He directed the passport officer to issue the passport within one month after recording the name of the petitioner’s adoptive father.
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