MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court ordered the central government to consider issuing a passport to a 21-year-old girl born to a Sri Lankan refugee couple in India.
According to the petitioner Harina, she was born at a government hospital in Karur in 2002 to parents with Sri Lankan citizenship, who were in the refugee camp of Rayanoor in the Karur district. She completed her studies and wanted to go abroad for employment.
Hence, she applied for a passport, but her effort was in vain. She applied for Indian citizenship by naturalisation under Section 6 of the Citizenship Act which took a long time to be approved. Hence, quoting Section 20 of the Passports Act, 1967 (which paves ways to issue passports and travel documents to persons who are not citizens of India), she filed a petition before the court seeking a passport.
Justice GR Swaminathan, while passing the order, said she was born and brought up in India and was not in a position to go to Sri Lanka and request a Sri Lankan passport. The materials on record do not indicate that the petitioner is a Sri Lankan citizen. Prima facie it appears that her birth was not registered and she is neither Sri Lankan citizen nor an Indian citizen.
"The right to earn one's livelihood and right to travel abroad is enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India which applies to all persons, citizens and non-citizens alike. In these circumstances, granting a passport to her under Section 20 of the Passports Act, 1967 will not prejudice the interest of the country. On the other hand, it would only serve the public interest. Attending to the needs of the refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons, is certainly a matter of public interest", the court said.