JUDGMENT : Muralee Krishna, J. The petitioner in W.P.(C) No.7188 of 2024 filed this writ appeal under Section 5(i) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958 , impugning the judgment dated 16.01.2025, whereby the learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition filed by the appellant- petitioner under Article 226 of the Constitution of India , seeking a writ of mandamus commanding the respondent to correct the date of birth of the appellant-petitioner in his passport as shown in his birth certificate. 2. According to the appellant, in Ext.P1 Passport his date of birth is erroneously shown as 18.03.1965 instead of 10.01.1973. The appellant was a minor at the time of issuance of the passport. Hence, the judgment in Vasu Sasi v. Union of India [ 2020 (4) KLT Online 1006 ] , relied by the learned Single Judge does not apply to the case of the appellant, since the office memorandum dated 26.11.2015 issued by the Ministry of External Affairs exempt the case of minors from the five years limitation period stipulated therein for seeking correction of the date of birth in the passport. 3. Heard Sri.Mathew James, the learned counsel for the appellant and Sri. Achuth Krishnan R, the learned Central Government Counsel (CGC) for the respondent and perused the paperbook. 4. The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the learned Single Judge failed to appreciate the exemption given to the case of a minor, in the official memorandum dated 26.11.2015 issued by the Ministry of External Affairs to apply for change/correction of the date of birth in the passport. 5. The learned CGC stoutly opposed the claim of the appellant, contending that after the issuance of his first passport, the appellant was reissued with the passport on three occasions, and hence he cannot claim the benefit of exemption granted to the minor in the office memorandum dated 26.11.2015 of the Government. The learned CGC further submitted that the appellant has been in possession of the passport for more than 35 years and his claim is hopelessly barred in view of the official memorandum issued by the Ministry of External Affairs. Moreover, the suit filed by the appellant as O.S No.199 of 2022 before the Munsiff Court, Alappuzha, for the same cause was dismissed on merits, and hence the appellant cannot agitate the same cause by invoking writ jurisdiction of this court. 6. Moreover, the suit filed by the appellant as O.S No.199 of 2022 before the Munsiff Court, Alappuzha, for the same cause was dismissed on merits, and hence the appellant cannot agitate the same cause by invoking writ jurisdiction of this court. 6. The learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition filed by the appellant, referring to the judgment of a Division Bench of this Court in Vasu Sasi v. Union of India [ 2020 (4) KLT Online 1006 ] wherein by relying on the office memorandum issued by the Central Government for dealing with the application for correction of date of birth in the passport it was held that a belated application for correction of date of birth cannot be entertained. The learned Single Judge further noted that the judgment in Vasu Sasi [ 2020 (4) KLT Online 1006 ] was reiterated in the judgment of a learned Single Judge of this Court in W.P.(C)No. 3934 of 2024. 7. To appreciate the argument raised by the appellant regarding the exemption granted in the office memorandum dated 26 th November, 2015, issued by the Ministry of External Affairs for the correction of the date of birth in the case of a minor, it would be worth to re-produce that office memorandum: "OFFICE MEMORANDUM SUBJECT: - Guidelines with regard to change/correction of dates of birth entries in the passport of an applicant already held by him/her. It may be mentioned that necessary provisions with regard to change/correction of dates of birth in the passports are contained in the Passport Manual, 2010 and from time to time number of circulars have been issued by the Ministry on this issue. 2. It is pertinent to mention that recently, the High Court of Kerala while hearing the W.P. No. 9073 of 2015 (Jayakumar v. Union of India and others) has delivered a landmark judgment on the issue of correction/change of entires regarding date/place of birth in the passport. During the course of arguments, the Court has elaborated upon the fact that the details entered in the Passport cannot be lightly interfered with, that too after many years without any sustainable cause and without any explanation as to why initially such a wrong declaration was made and why now a change is sought that too based on a document which was available with the applicant when the original declaration was made. The High Court has further observed that the difference in dates of birth whether two years or twenty years, the power should be one to correct bonafide mistake and that too within a reasonable time. Even a civil court declaration after many number of years would lead to the applicant having possibly perpetrated a fraud on many other who acted upon the authenticated declaration of sovereign state as to the age status of its Citizen. 3. The Court, therefore, while dismissing the petition of the applicant petitioner has directed that the authorities would do well to introspect on the observation made herein to make suitable amendments to the circular. It has also been directed that there would be no scope for leaving any liberty on the petitioners to approach a civil court too on the reasoning adopted by this court and the delay occasioned in seeking the correction. 4. Hence, the core principle of the judgment of the High Court of Kerala is that only the bonafide claims of the applicants for the change/correction of the date of birth in the passport should be accepted and that too if the same are submitted by them within a reasonable time limit after the issuance of passport. In pursuance of the directions of the High Court, it has been decided that henceforth, all the PIA shall follow the following instructions/guidelines in order to consider the claims/request the applicant for the change/correction of entries regarding of date of birth in their passports: (i) Where an applicant claims clerical/technical mistake in the entry relating to birth/place of birth in the passport and asks for rectification/correction. In all such cases, the documents produced earlier as proof of date of birth/place of birth at the time of issue of passport may be perused (if not already destroyed) by PIA. In case, it is a clerical mistake either by the applicant or the PIA, date/place of birth correction may be allowed by issue of fresh booklet; in the former case by charging fee for fresh passport and in the latter ''gratis'' (same as mentioned in Ministry's Circular No. VI/ 401/2/ S/2001, dated29/10/2007). In case, it is a clerical mistake either by the applicant or the PIA, date/place of birth correction may be allowed by issue of fresh booklet; in the former case by charging fee for fresh passport and in the latter ''gratis'' (same as mentioned in Ministry's Circular No. VI/ 401/2/ S/2001, dated29/10/2007). (ii) If an applicant applies for the change of date of birth in the passport within a reasonable period of time i.e. within a span of five (5) years from the date of issue of passport having the alleged wrong date of birth, with the birth certificate issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths stating that the date of birth recorded in the passport was based on the entries mentioned documents other than the Birth Certificate, the request of such an applicant irrespective of the difference in the dates of birth, may be considered by the Passport Issuing Authority. However, before the issuance of passport with changed date of birth, the Passport Authority shall also levy appropriate penalty on the applicant for obtaining passport on previous occasions by providing wrong information regarding his/her date of birth . (iii) The cases where the applicant comes to PIA for change/correction with regard to date of birth in the Passport after a period of five years from the date of issue of passport with alleged wrong date of birth, no such request shall be entertained/accepted by the PIA and be rejected out rightly. However, an exemption in this regard may be given to an applicant who was minor at the time when passport with alleged wrong date of birth was issued to him. As and when such an applicant after attaining the age of majority applies for the passport with request to change the date of birth in the passport issued to him when he was minor, the PIA irrespective of the duration of the issuance of passport may accept his case for consideration and if is satisfied with the claim and document(s) submitted by the applicant, may accept his request for change of date of birth in the passport without imposition of any penalty. (iv) In no way, the Passport Authority will relegate the applicant to obtain the declaratory court order to carry out changes with regard to date of birth in the passport, as the Passport Authority subject to the condition that the case has been submitted by the applicant within the stipulated limit of 5 years from the date of issuance of passport (except the cases of minor passport holder as detailed in para 5(ii) above) would now be eligible to accept the genuine cases irrespective of the difference of dates of birth. 5. In view of the above, all Passport Issuing Authorities are hereby requested to follow the above guidelines scrupulously to consider the requests of applicants for change/correction of dates of birth entries in the passports. Provisions contained in Chapter ‘4 and 8’ of the Passport Manual, 2010 stand revised to the extent as stipulated above." (Underline supplied) 8. A reading of guideline 4(iii) would make it clear that, it was in view of the judgment of this court in Jayakumar and others v. Regional Passport Officer, TVM [ 2015 (3) KHC 763 ] , a limitation period of five years from the date of issue of the passport to correct the date of birth is provided therein with an exemption in the case of a minor. 9. The Madhya Pradesh High Court while considering a similar writ petition as that of the instant case, in Arooshi Budholia v. Union of India [2023 KHC 2527] after considering the official memorandum dated 26.11.2015 issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (supra), and also the judgment of the High Court of Delhi in W.P.(C)No.10839 of 2015 in the matter of Sunita Sawhney v. Union of India and others [ 2016 (2) ADR 279 ] and that of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Reshem Singh v. Union of India and others [ 2008 (1) RCR (Civil) 131] granted the relief by directing the passport authority to consider the application of the petitioner therein for reissuance of a fresh passport by correcting the date of birth on the basis of e-birth certificate issued. 10. It is also worth to note the guidelines relating to the issue of passports in India and abroad in the compendium of instructions/guidelines issued to the Passport issuing Authorities up to the year 2020, to which the learned counsel for the appellant invited our attention. 10. It is also worth to note the guidelines relating to the issue of passports in India and abroad in the compendium of instructions/guidelines issued to the Passport issuing Authorities up to the year 2020, to which the learned counsel for the appellant invited our attention. In Chapter 3, Clause 6 of the said guidelines deals with a change in the date of birth. It was with reference to the Ministry's circular No.VI/401/2/5/2001 dated 26.11.2015, 13.01.2016 and 22.09.2016 the guidelines regarding change in date of birth are issued. Clauses 6.1 to 6.6 and 6.10 of them read as under: “6. CHANGE IN DATE OF BIRTH [Ref. Ministry's circular VI/401/2/5/2001 dated 26.11.2015, 13.01.2016 and 22.09.2016 ] 6.1 Requests are frequently received by PIAs for change in the date of birth. This is due to the fact that many countries insist that date of birth (or place of birth) in all documents of a person be the same for purposes of immigration, long term resident/student visas, employment, retirement etc. The Kerala High Court, on 23 rd June 2015, in a case WP No. 9073 of 2015 (Jayakumar vs RPO Trivandrum), while dismissing a bunch of similar petitions seeking direction to PIA for change of date of birth, delivered a landmark judgment elaborating upon the fact that the personal particulars entered in the passport cannot be modified at will, without any sustainable cause and without any explanation as to why such a change is sought after many years. The Court also set aside the existing procedure for change in date of birth by PIAs if the difference is less than two years and directed that irrespective of period of difference between correct and given dates of birth, any bona fide change in date of birth shall be effected within a reasonable limitation period. The Government accordingly set a five year limitation period from the date of issue of first passport to an adult, based on GOI policy for govt. employees for change of their date of birth. Accordingly, the following revised procedure shall be adopted by all PIAs in India and abroad for change of date of birth/place in passports: 6.2 Where an applicant claims clerical/technical mistake in the entry relating to birth/place of birth in the passport and seeks rectification. employees for change of their date of birth. Accordingly, the following revised procedure shall be adopted by all PIAs in India and abroad for change of date of birth/place in passports: 6.2 Where an applicant claims clerical/technical mistake in the entry relating to birth/place of birth in the passport and seeks rectification. In all such cases, the documents produced earlier as proof of date of birth/place of birth at the time of issue of passport may be perused (if not already destroyed) by the issuing PIA. In case, it is a mistake either by the applicant or a clerical mistake by the issuing PIA, date/place of birth correction may be allowed by issue of fresh booklet without any limitation of time. In case of mistake by the applicant, fee for fresh passport to be charged and in case of mistake by the PIA staff, fresh passport to be issued on 'gratis' basis [as mentioned in Ministry's circular No. VI/401/2/5/2001 dated 29/10/2007]. 6.3 If an applicant applies for correction of date of birth in the passport on the basis of a fresh or corrected birth certificate (the original BC was submitted earlier for issue of the first passport), the following procedure be followed: a) In case of furnishing of a new amended BC with the same date of issue and registration number of the old BC by the same authority, application for change in DOB be processed subject to physical verification of the new BC; b) In case of furnishing of a new BC by a different authority in replacement of old BC by another authority, the PIA shall insist on cancellation of the old BC and after physical verification of the cancellation certificate and the fresh BC from issuing authorities, application for change in DOB be processed; c) In case of furnishing of a new BC where the first passport was obtained using other documents like educational school certificates etc., application for change in DOB be processed subject to physical verification of the new BC and other supplementary documents (if required); 6.4 The PIA shall however reject cases where the old birth certificate or other DOB documents used to obtain the first passport, were issued even before the new date of birth claimed by the applicant. (Obviously, the old certificates were in existence before the new DOB of the applicant). (Obviously, the old certificates were in existence before the new DOB of the applicant). 6.5 In case of DOB change applications based on fraudulent documents or /and suppression of material information or/and furnishing of wrong information, the Passport Authorities shall take appropriate steps for imposition of monetary penalty OR filing of criminal case against the offender applicant, as the case may be, in terms of the statutory provision of Section 12 of the Passports Act, 1967. 6.6 In no way, the PIA shall relegate the applicants to obtain a declaratory court order to carry out change in date of birth, as per earlier procedure. xxx xxx xxx xxx 6.10 As per recent circular no. VI/401/2/5/2001, dated 22.09.2016 issued by the Ministry, the following are the additional guidelines for PIA on judicial pronouncements made after the issue of the OM dated 26.11.2015 and 13.01.2016: (i) The PIA shall consider the explanation of each applicant seeking change in the DOB to find the genuineness of the claim even though more than five years have elapsed after the issue of the passport. (ii) The PIA need not entertain any application in a routine manner for correction of DOB unless such application is filed along with a genuine explanation explaining the delay in approaching the PIA. If such an application is filed, the PIA shall consider the same and take appropriate decision as per the instructions contained in the circulars dated 26.11.2015 and 13.01.2016. (iii) The PIA shall entertain all applicants for correction of DOB, if such holder of the passport produces a court decree filed in a suit initiated prior to issuance of O.M. dated 26.11.2015 wherein a direction is given to the PIA to correct the DOB notwithstanding the direction in the O.M. (iv) If any application for change in DOB is filed for correction prior to issuance of the 0.M. dated 26.11.2015, the same shall be considered in accordance with the relevant regulations prevailing prior to the date of the O.M”. 11. In these guidelines, nothing has been stated about the correction of the date of birth if the applicant was a minor at the time of issuance of the passport. As per Clause 6.10 (i), even after the lapse of five years from the date of issuance of the passport, an application for correction of date of birth can be entertained if the claim is found as genuine. 12. As per Clause 6.10 (i), even after the lapse of five years from the date of issuance of the passport, an application for correction of date of birth can be entertained if the claim is found as genuine. 12. The date of the first issue of the passport to the appellant is not pleaded in the writ petition. However, from the reply affidavit dated 14.08.2024 filed by the appellant and Ext.P10 copy of the passport produced along with the reply affidavit, we notice that the appellant was issued with the passport for the first time on 13.12.1988. From the statement filed on behalf of the respondent in the writ petition, we notice that the renewed passports were subsequently issued to the appellant on 04.04.1999, 16.06.2009 and 23.01.2019, respectively, from Muscat. In all these passports, his date of birth is shown as 18.03.1965. 13. Along with the writ petition, the appellant has produced Ext.P2 secondary school leaving certificate, Ext.P3 driving licence dated 15.07.2011 issued by the RTO, Alappuzha, Ext.P4 Pan Card, Ext.P5 aadhar card and Ext.P9 birth certificate issued by the Alappuzha Municipality. In all these documents, the date of birth of the appellant is shown as 10.01.1973. Neither the appellant nor the respondent has a case that the date of birth of the appellant was corrected in those documents after the issuance of the passport to him. Under such circumstances, it is only to be held that the appellant was a minor at the time of issuing his passport for the first time, and a wrong entry regarding his date of birth was made in the passport, which was subsequently carried forward while reissuing the passports. The respondent could not produce any document to contend that the appellant had obtained the passport for the first time by purposefully showing a wrong date of birth in his application for the passport. 14. Along with the writ petition, the appellant produced Ext.P8 communication dated 05.07.2023 issued by the respondent, whereby the appellant was directed to furnish the documentary proof relating to his date of birth. However, the date of birth was subsequently not corrected based on the documents produced. 14. Along with the writ petition, the appellant produced Ext.P8 communication dated 05.07.2023 issued by the respondent, whereby the appellant was directed to furnish the documentary proof relating to his date of birth. However, the date of birth was subsequently not corrected based on the documents produced. From the reading of the guidelines issued by the Government as well as the Instructions given to the Passport Authority regarding the correction of date of birth in the passport, it is evident that no time limit is fixed for correcting the date of birth in the case of a passport issued while the applicant was a minor. 15. It is true that from the pleadings it is discernible that the appellant had approached the Munsiff Court, Alappuzha, with a suit, probably with a prayer for the same relief, and it ended in dismissal on merits. According to the appellant, the suit was dismissed for want of necessary documents. Though the appellant did not challenge the judgment in the suit, from the guidelines in the compendium of instructions, we notice that there is a specific direction in Clause 6.6 that no person shall be relegated to the Court for correcting the mistake in the date of birth. In such circumstances, the non-challenge of the judgment of the Munsiff Court, Alappuzha, also will not affect the present writ petition filed by the appellant. 16. Having considered the pleadings and materials on record and the submissions made at the Bar, we find that the learned Single Judge failed to consider the exemption granted in the period of five years stated in the official memorandum dated 26.11.2015 issued by the Ministry of External Affairs for correction of date of birth in a passport issued while the applicant was a minor. The learned Single Judge erred by applying the principles in Vasu Sasi [2020 (4) KLT Online 1006] and Jayakumar [ 2015 (3) KHC 763 ] to the instant case, since the facts of the present case are entirely different from those cases. The impugned judgment is therefore liable to be set aside. In the result, the writ appeal is allowed by setting aside the judgment dated 16.01.2025 in W.P.(C)No.7188 of 2024, and the writ petition is allowed by directing the respondent to consider the application filed by the appellant and reissue him a passport by correcting the date of birth based on Ext.P9 birth certificate.