THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: All the four passport offices in Kerala has been selected among the best passport offices in an annual ranking by the Ministry of External Affairs for 2016-17. While Kochi Passport Office got the award for best among the 12 of category-A that issues about four lakh passports annually, Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram and Kozhikode bagged the first, second and third positions respectively among the 12 in category-B issuing 1.5 lakh to 4 lakh passports annually.
The ranking was done by parameters like average time taken for issuing passports, the productivity of staff, disposal of public grievances, the pendency of applications and police verification process. Thiruvananthapuram regional passport officer Ashique Karattil said that last year the Thiruvananthapuram passport office had bagged second place and the first place earlier once.
"This year we could achieve the first place despite a staff strength of 44 against 65 last year," he said. Mr Karattil also said his office was now able to despatch passport applications that did not require police verification on the same day of receiving the application. About 2.25 lakh applications were being processed by the passport office here annually, he said. The regional officers will receive the awards at the Passport Seva Day celebrations in Delhi on Friday.
