Rakesh Kumar Jain, J. - (1.) The petitioner Prerna Katia was married to Dhruv Garg S/o Rajesh Garg on 10.12.2006. They were blessed with a daughter, namely, Addvita, on 03.11.2009. Addvita was holding a passport No.L7104536 issued on 13.02.2014 in the name of Addvita Garg. The petitioner and her husband were having matrimonial disputes, which resulted into divorce based upon the settlement dated 19.05.2015, arrived at during mediation proceedings in this Court. Husband of the petitioner consented to pay a sum of Rs.1 Crore towards full and final maintenance/alimony to the petitioner and minor Addvita and in return, the petitioner agreed to withdraw all the cases filed against her husband. Both the parties also agreed not to file any other case against each other in respect of their matrimonial disputes. Husband of the petitioner also consented to waive off his visiting rights to his minor daughter whose custody was given to the petitioner and it was specifically agreed that Addvita Garg shall be known as Addvita Katia daughter of Prerna Katia instead of Addvita Garg D/o Dhruv Garg. The said settlement has been made part of the order passed by the Division Bench of this Court on 30.07.2015 in FAO No. M-434 of 2014 and permission was granted to the petitioner to withdraw her appeal.
(2.) After her divorce, the petitioner has become a single parent of her minor daughter. The petitioner moved an application on 13.08.2015 to the respondents for the purpose of seeking correction of sur-name and deletion of father's name of Addvita from her passport. Since the respondents were not reacting to her request, therefore, the present petition has been filed, seeking a direction to the respondents to correct sur-name of her daughter from Addvita Garg to Addvita Katia and also for deletion of the name of her ex-husband from the passport of her daughter.
(3.) After notice, the respondents have filed reply in which it is averred that request of the petitioner was referred to the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi and were advised vide its letter dated 30.09.2015 to process her case in terms of the provisions of Paragraph 4.5 of Chapter 8 of the Passport Manual, 2010 (hereinafter referred to as the "Paragraph 4.5"), which is reproduced as under:- "IV. Parent name not to be deleted from passport consequent to Divorce: Paragraph 4.5- Request for deletion of parent name from passport due to parents' divorce should not be accepted. By virtue of the divorce decree, only the relation as wife and husband severs. The divorce decree does not result in severance of the relation between the child and the parent, unless the parent has legally disowned the child.";