Adopted son to get passport after High Court order

As per the case, the child, Gokulakanna, was born out of wedlock between one Raj and Thailammal. Subsequently, the child was adopted by one G Vasudevan in 2002. Incidentally, Vasudevan already has a son by name Arun, born to him and his deceased wife on Oct 10, 1997. The deed of adoption was executed in favour of Vasudevan on Feb 15, 2002. 

This was followed by a decree issued by Salem munsif court. Based on this, the petitioner sought for the issuance of a passport in the name of Gokulakannan mentioning his name in the father’s column. 

But the passport office rejected his plea in view of the embargo placed by Section 11(1) of Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA) by which a person, who is having a son at the time of adoption, cannot adopt another. Sunithakumari, the Centre’s counsel, submitted that HAMA clearly restrained a person to adopt a son when the natural son was alive. 

She contended that regional passport office (RPO) had no choice but to adhere to the law. Justice Sundaresh, before whom the plea came up, held that “The objection raised by the RPO has to be sustained in the eyes of law. 

However, there cannot be any objection for the natural father to have his name in the application, as what is required is a passport for the minor. Hence, as and when such a yardstick is adopted, the RPO will have to consider it and issue the passport as per law.” 

The judge in his order also directed the petitioner to make a fresh application and directed the RPO not to reject it on the ground that documents such as ration card, school certificate and Aadhar card of the minor indicates the name of the adopted father, meaning thereby, they can act as per the birth certificate instead. The RPO was also directed to issue the passport within four weeks from the date of application.