No.VI/401/01/05/2014
Government of India
Ministry of External Affairs
CPV Division
Patiala House Annexe, Tilak Marg
New Delhi, 26th May, 2015
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Issuance of Ordinary Passport to Government Servants, PSU/Autonomous body employees, et al.
In tune with the Government’s objective of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’ and with a view to simplifying the procedure for issuance of Passport to Government Servants, PSU/Autonomous body employees, et al, the matter has been reviewed. In order to facilitate issuance of Passport to Government employees, et al; who find difficulties to obtain Identity Certificate (IC) /No Objection Certificate (NOC) from their department, it has been decided to introduce a new feature which is termed as ‘Prior Intimation’ letter to the controlling authority by the Passport applicant before submission of a Passport application.
2. Basically, Prior Intimation is a letter from the Passport applicant giving intimation to his/her Controlling /Administrative Authority (employer) regarding submission of Passport application. This can be submitted by the applicant in the format of ‘Annexure-N’. After submission of Passport application by such an employee, the copy of this Prior Intimation would be sent to the same Controlling/Administrative Authority under which the employee is working. In case the employer has any objection regarding issuance of Passport to that employee, they may revert back to concerned Regional Passport Office mentioning the details of such objection. However, the final decision will be taken by the concerned Passport Issuing Authority. If Prior Intimation is submitted by the applicant, Passport would be issued on the basis of Pre-Police Verification, however the provisions of Police Verification in reissue cases will remain applicable.
3. Henceforth, anyone of the following documents can be submitted by Government Servants, PSU/Autonomous body employees, et al. for submission of application for Passports:
(a) Copy of Prior Intimation to Controlling / Administrative Authority; or
(b) No Objection Certificate from Controlling / Administrative Authority; or
(c) Identity Certificate from Controlling / Administrative authority.
4. No Objection Certificate (NOC) is issued in the format of ‘Annexure-M’ by the Controlling /Administrative Authority of the employee working under them for obtaining Passport by any Government Servants, PSU / Autonomous body employees, et al. If NOC is submitted Passport will be issued on Post-Police Verification basis.
5. Identity Certificate (IC) is issued in the format of ‘Annexure-B’ by the Controlling /Administrative Authority of the employee working under them for obtaining Passport by any Government Servants, PSU / Autonomous body employees, et al. If IC is submitted Passport will be issued on No-Police Verification basis. The spouse of such employees, and dependent children up to the age of 18 years, has an option to submit IC for expeditious issue of passport. In case of IC, the applicant is also required to submit ‘Annexure-I’.
6. It may be noted that the following provisions will remain applicable as mentioned below:
a. While IC should be issued preferably on Official Stationery (letterhead); NOC on plain paper with signature/stamp can be accepted, on the assumption that such offices are using plain paper for day to day correspondence. Prior Intimation (PI) is required to be submitted on plain paper by the Passport applicant.
b. Telephone, fax and e-mail id of the Controlling / Administrative Office (to the extent available) should be indicated in all the three documents for the purpose of confirmation.
c. Military personnel with c/o APO address (e.g. 56 APO/99 APO) may submit applications at their station of posting or at their permanent address, and write their permanent address in passport [against present address otherwise]. Spouse of such personnel [and adult children, when spouse has expired/divorced] may receive the passport, with authority letter, either by hand or by post. This would apply to similarly placed Air Force/Navy personnel as well.
d. If Government/PSU employees, et al. are transferred after submission of the passport application or passport is returned undelivered due to such transfer, the same be re-dispatched, on request (along with copy of transfer order), at the new address, after correction/endorsement of address. However, if police verification was required and was not completed, it will be done at the new place.
e. The validity of the documents mentioned at para-3 will be six months from date of issue.
7. While the revised provisions deal only with passport issuance, the requirement by the Government employees to obtain prior permission from his/her Department / Ministry for travelling abroad as per Conduct Rules will remain unchanged as per the instructions issued by the Department of Personnel & Training and respective authorities.
8. Ministries of the Central Government, and the State Governments/ Union Territories are requested to circulate these instructions to all the employees working under them, including those in attached and subordinate offices, and statutory bodies. L
(Muktesh K. Paradeshi)
Joint Secretary(PSP) &
Chief Passport Officer
Very good