Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:
(a) whether there is any timeline for submission of report by local police and other agencies involved in verification of address and other documents while issuing passport to applicants;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) if not, the reasons therefor; and
(d) the number of applicants kept on hold due to delay in reports from concerned verification agency during the last three years?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
[GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]
(a) to (c) The desired timeline for completion of the Police Verification (PV) by State/UT Police is 21days. As regards verification of other documents, there is no timeline for completion of verification of other documents. Generally, verification of other documents is done only for those documents which are not found satisfactory by the Verification Officer (VO)/Granting Officer (GO) of the Central Passport Organisation. If any discrepancy or doubt is noticed in the veracity of the document, VO/GO sends the document(s) to the originator of the document for verification and confirmation of its genuineness.
(d) As per the current System, only those applications are kept on hold for which the Passport Issuing Authority (PIA) has asked for some more documents or for verification of the submitted documents from the originator. In such cases, action is taken by the PIA after receipt of verification/confirmation from the originator.
As regards police verification report, the applications fall under three categories viz. (i) No-PV, (ii) Pre-PV and (iii) Post-PV. While No-PV and Post-PV applications are granted immediately if found to be satisfactory in all respects, the Pre-PV cases only await receipt of Police Verification Report for which desired timeline is 21 days. The position with regard to police verification pending over 21 days during the last 3 years is given at Annexure.