Question : ISSUANCE RENEWAL OF PASSPORTS

(a) the stipulated period for issue/renewal of passports as per the guidelines issued by the Government in this regard;

(b) whether the passports to the applicants are issued/renewed beyond the stipulated period by the Regional Passport Office (RPO);

(c) if so, the reasons therefor;

(d) the total number of applications received for issue and renewal of passports separately during the last three years and the current year, RPO wise and year-wise; and

(e) the steps taken by the Government to the expedite issue/renewal of passports to the applicants?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS(SHRI E.AHAMED)

(a) Under normal category, time target for issue of a fresh passport is 30 days subject to receipt of clear Police verification report and completion of all formalities.In re-issue cases, time target for issue of passport is 15 days from the date of application subject to completion of all formalities. Under the “Tatkal scheme”, passports are to be issued within 7 days or within 14 days depending upon the payment of prescribed fees and submission of documents required under the Tatkal scheme. The re-issue of passports under Tatkal scheme is within 3 working days on payment of prescribed fee and submission of prescribed documents.

(b) & (c) Yes.The reasons include delays in receipt of police verification reports (PVRs) and adverse or incomplete PVRs,incomplete information and/or incomplete documents furnished by the applicants.

(d) The requisite information is being collected from Passport offices and it would be placed on the Table of the House.

(e) The Government has taken several steps from time to time including

(i) special drives to eliminate pendencies,

(ii) expediting police verification process by coordinating with Police authorities,

(iii) expanding the number of applicants who can get passports on the basis of post issuance police verification,

(iv) renewal of passports without police verification of those applicants who have clear police reports in respect of existing passports and nothing adverse against them in passport records,

(v) issue of passports to senior citizens,Government servants and minors without police verification subject to completion of certain formalities, and

(vi) holding of Passport Adalats/camps at regular intervals by Passport offices to dispose of old passport cases expeditiously.

In addition,the Government had entrusted the National Institute of Smart Government (NISG), Hyderabad, with the task of undertaking a time-bound study on the passport issuance system, including its IT aspects with the objective to deliver passport related services to the citizens in a timely, transparent, more accessible and reliable manner.The Government accepted the NISG report as a result of which “Passport Seva Project” has been launched.

The proposal is to have 77 Passport Seva Kendras all over the country where the non-sovereign functions, involved in the passport issuance process, such as initial scrutiny of the application forms, acceptance of fee, scanning of the documents, taking photos, etc., will be performed by the selected Service provider.The sensitive activities,such as police verification, printing and dispatch of passports, will be performed by the Government staff.The project is expected to result in the issue of passports within three days,and where police verification is required, within three days after completion of the verification process.The Project is expected to be implemented fully to cover the entire country by the beginning of 2010.