New Delhi: After triggering a major firestorm with a senior official's unattributed assertion last month that an Indian  passport is "not a document of citizenship", the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday (July 14) declined to repeat that formulation when asked directly about it, instead repeating the language of the Passports Act, 1967.

At his weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was asked about the controversy over whether a passport is merely a travel document or also a proof of citizenship.

"An Indian passport is a document that, as per the Passports Act, 1967, is issued by the Government of India to regulate the departure from India of citizens of India. It is issued after due verification laid out by an established process. The issue of passports to Indian citizens or any other individual is governed by the Passports Act, 1967 and the Passport Rules, 1980," Jaiswal said.

He added that "currently, less than 8% of Indian citizens hold a passport".

Unlike the ministry's remarks on June 25, Jaiswal did not repeat the assertion that a passport is "not a document of citizenship". Instead, his response repeatedly referred to passports being issued to "citizens of India" and "Indian citizens", echoing the wording of the Passports Act.

The ministry's earlier remarks had come in response to questions on whether a person excluded from the voter rolls amid the Election Commission's special intensive revision (SIR) could rely on an Indian passport to establish their citizenship.

An MEA official had then said that while passports attest nationality when Indians travel abroad, they are fundamentally travel documents and "not a document of citizenship". The official had also said passports are issued only after extensive due diligence and after authorities satisfy themselves that the applicant is entitled to receive one.

The remarks drew attention because section 6(2)(a) of the Passports Act requires passport authorities to refuse issuance of a passport if the applicant is not a citizen of India.

At the same time, section 20 of the Act empowers the Union government to issue passports or travel documents to non-citizens in limited circumstances. The government's Passport Manual also describes a passport as an identity and travel document that "provides evidence of the holder's nationality", while setting out the statutory exceptions under which travel documents may be issued to non-nationals.

The issue assumed added significance because passports were among the documents accepted by the Election Commission for the SIR exercise in Bihar, even as questions over what documents establish Indian citizenship have been at the centre of the legal and political debate surrounding the revision of electoral rolls.

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