Possession of foreign passport is not mandatory for applying for Indian citizenship.

The Calcutta High Court has pronounced the above-mentioned ratio in the matter of Bismillah Khan vs. Union of India & Others (W.P. 928(W) of 2020).
Facts:
The petitioner was a Pakhtoon citizen and due to political turmoil, the said State was merged partially into Afghanistan and partially into Pakistan. The petitioner was five‐year old, when his father migrated to India in the year 1973. The Petitioner therefore was a refugee under distress and did not possess a passport.
The Petitioner sought to apply for Indian citizenship however, the online application required a copy of passport which the Petitioner did not possess, therefore, he is not able to complete the application. Aggrieved, he approached the Calcutta High Court in writ jurisdiction.
Per contra, the Union of India submitted before the Court that the provisions of Section 5(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act 1955 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”), read with Rule 5 as well as Rules 11 and 12 of the Citizenship Rules, 2009 makes it mandatory to file an application in Form III. A perusal of Form III shows that Clause 9 of the same requires the passport particulars of the applicant to be filled in and the documents to be attached with the application includes a valid foreign passport.

Issue:
Whether a valid foreign passport is a mandatory pre-requisite for grant of Indian citizenship
Ratio:
The Court observed that a compliance of Rule 5(1)(a) contemplates that an application shall not be entertained unless the application is made in Form III, such provision ipso facto does not make the availability of a passport a mandatory requirement. The Form given with the Rules cannot override the provision of the statute itself, which does not stipulate such a mandate on the applicants applying for citizenship under Section 5 (1)(c) of the Act mandatorily to carry a passport. Although such provision is included in the Form, which has to be complied with by the applicant, it is nowhere indicated in such Form that all the relevant particulars, including the particulars regarding passport of the petitioner have to be furnished mandatorily, along with a copy of a valid foreign passport, even in the event the petitioner, for valid reasons, is not in a position to produce such passport.
The Court held that the provision of producing a passport and its particulars is not mandatory in nature and there has to be a relaxation in such requirement in the case the petitioner is able to satisfy the appropriate authorities the reasons for non‐ availability of such passport. Unless such a leeway is given to the applicants, genuine persons who otherwise have all the formal documents indicating that they have been residing in India for a long time and have married a resident of India would also be unable to apply for Indian Citizenship, despite having lived their entire lives and contributed to the economy and diverse culture of this country, which is contradictory to the spirit of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.