THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police verification process for passport applicants is being simplified by doing away with the requirement of verifying the address of the applicants and limiting the procedure to checking the criminal track records. The new norm, which will come into effect from June 1, is mainly aimed at plugging the chances of police seeking bribes from the applicants. The new norm is also a step towards enabling the citizens to apply for passport at any passport office in the country, irrespective of their place of residence, according to sources at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
As per the police verification process being followed over the last many years, the police need to verify the address of the applicant as well as his/her criminal history. For the address verification process, police personnel used to get in touch with the applicant. This paved the way for bribery and the regional passport offices used to receive several complaints regarding this.
“With the new norm, the police only need to check their files to see if any criminal cases are pending against the applicant. Since no address verification is required, the police need not get in touch with the applicant or visit his/her residence,” MEA sources said. The addresses of applicants are verified thoroughly on the basis of government documents like Aadhaar cards and driving licence at the time of submitting the applications.
Moreover, the applicants themselves are submitting the applications before the officials of the regional passport office. Above all, the passports are delivered by Speed Post and delivered at the address of the applicant only. Hence the ministry felt that there was no need for further address verification, said sources. The simplification of the police verification process could also further bring down the time being taken for verification as the house visit is not required.
As reported by DC on Friday, the verification time has been brought down from about 20 days to four days in four districts where the police implemented an online application, e-VIP. According to sources, the centre plans to enable any citizen to apply for passport at Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) under any regional passport office. At present, the people can apply only at the PSK at their places of residence.
