Passport authority bound by law to take cognisance of registered adoption deed: Gujarat HC

In a significant ruling, the Gujarat High Court has held that a registered adoption deed is legally binding and cannot be questioned by the Regional Passport Office, directing the authorities to process a minor girl’s passport application filed through petitioner on the basis of the deed.

The single judge bench of the high court, while allowing a petition filed by a UAE-based woman, observed, “Once the deed of adoption is registered, the same cannot be called in question by the Regional Passport Office. The passport authority is bound by law to take cognisance of the registered adoption deed.”

The court directed the passport authority to decide the fresh application on its own merits, in light of the registered adoption deed dated July 20, 2016 and the Ministry of External Affairs’ Office Memorandum dated November 14, 2024, preferably within six weeks.

The petitioner and her husband, residents of the United Arab Emirates, had adopted the minor girl. The passport authority closed the fresh application seeking issuance of minor passport through petitioner on the ground that the adoption was invalid under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (HAMA) since the adoptive parents belonged to different religions and therefore insisted on production of a proper court adoption order.

The petitioner's counsel argued that the Ministry of External Affairs’ OM issued on November 14, 2024 clarified that a court decree is mandatory only for in-country adoptions under the Juvenile Justice Act involving relatives or step-parents — a category the present case does not fall under.

Background of the case reveals a series of complications. Initially, the petitioner’s husband obtained a birth certificate for the child from Lunawada Nagarpalika by suppressing the fact of adoption, and on its basis secured a passport. 

Subsequently, when the authorities detected the suppression, the husband and father-in-law of the petitioner approached two agents, to resolve the issue and one of the agents wrongfully took possession of the minor’s passport and began extorting money under the threat of a purported Red Corner Notice.

This led to an FIR, seizure of the passport by police, and subsequent litigation. In 2021, the petitioner approached the Gujarat High Court, which on February 14, 2023 allowed the minor through the petitioner to apply afresh for a passport. 

Despite the court’s earlier order and the November 2024 clarification from MEA, the passport authority again demanded a court decree, forcing the petitioner to file the petition.