Issue of Ordinary Passport – Requirement of IC or NOC

Government of West Bengal
Personnel & A.R. Department
Training Cell
Writers’ Buildings, Kolkata 700 001

Office Memorandum

From: Indevar Pandey
Secretary to the Govt. of West Bengal
Personnel & AR Department

To: 1) The Additional Chief Secretary/ Principal Secretary/ Secretary to the Government of West Bengal, ………….. Department.
2) The Director General & Inspector General of Police, West Bengal.
3) The Commissioner of Police, Kolkata.
4) The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, West Bengal.
5) The Divisional Commissioner, Presidency / Burdwan / Jalpaiguri Division.
6) The District Magistrate.
7) The Superintendent of Police.
8) The Director, Administrative Training Institute, Government of West Bengal.
9) The Secretary, Public Service Commission, West Bengal.

No.: 194-PAR(Trg)/HR/O/3T-61/07 Dated Kolkata, the 6th June, 2011.

Sub.: Issue of ordinary passport to the employees of the State Government, PSU’s, Constitutional bodies, Municipal Corporations, et al – Requirement of Identity Certificate (IC) or No Objection Certificate

Government of India has simplified the procedure for granting Identity Certificate/ No-Objection certificate for ordinary international passport vide their letter No. VI/401/01/05/2008 dated 5th Oct, 2009. Accordingly in supersession of this department’s earlier Office Memorandum No. 202( )-PAR(Trg)/HR/O/3T-61/07 dated 18th May, 2010 following procedure shall be adopted while issuing Identity Certificate (IC) or No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the the employees of state government or their family members for facilitating early disposal of passport applications.

2. As per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, employees have the option to submit either Identity Certificate (IC) or No Objection Certificate (NOC) for speedy disposal of their passport applications.

Dependents viz. spouse and children upto the age of 18 years only have the option of submitting IC.

In an IC, it is certified that provisions of section 6(2) of the Passport Act are not violated, whereas this certification is not done in case of an NOC. If IC is submitted, passport will be issued without police verification and if NOC submitted, passport will be issued on post-police verification basis.

NOC (not IC) is required for reissue of passport on expiry of passport/ exhaustion of visa pages etc.

3. An employee may apply for an IC or NOC by submitting an application in the prescribed format (Annexure 1).

4. IC or NOC may be issued by the Head of the Department or the Head of the PSU or a person duly authorised by them. Head of the Departments may issue suitable directions for delegation of this power if deemed fit. The validity of IC/ NOC will be six months from the date of issue.

5. While issuing IC or NOC following aspects may be looked into:-

i) there is no disciplinary proceedings or vigilance case either pending or under contemplation against the individual;

ii) there is no ground to believe that the applicant could figure adversely on the security records of the Government

6. An IC may be issued in favour of an employee or her/his dependents viz. spouse and children upto 18 years of age in an Official stationery (letterhead) in the format as prescribed by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in the Annexure B (copy enclosed). In case of children and spouse an affidavit in the prescribed format (Annexure 1) will have to be submitted along with the application form for IC.

Whenever IC is issued, it has to be certified that the provisions of Section 6(2) of the Passports Act are not violated. Section 6(2) of the Passport Act states that:

Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the passport authority shall refuse to issue a passport or travel document for visiting any foreign country under clause (c) of sub- section (2) of section 5 on any one or more of the following grounds, and on no other ground, namely:-

(a) that the applicant is not a citizen of India;

(b) that the applicant may, or is likely to, engage outside India in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India;

(c) that the departure of the applicant from India may, or is likely to, be detrimental to the security of India;

(d) that the presence of the applicant outside India may, or is likely to, prejudice the friendly relations of India with any foreign country;

(e) that the applicant has, at any time during the period of five years immediately preceding the date of his application, been convicted by a court in India for any offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced in respect thereof to imprisonment for not less than two years;

(f) that proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by the applicant are pending before a criminal court in India;

(g) that a warrant or summons for the appearance, or a warrant for the arrest, of the applicant has been issued by a court under any law for the time being in force or that an order prohibiting the departure from India of the applicant has been made by any such court;

(h) that the applicant has been repatriated and has not reimbursed the expenditure incurred in connection with such repatriation

(i) that in the opinion of the Central Government the issue of a passport or travel document to the applicant will not be in the public interest.

The IC will be issued based on the personal satisfaction of the issuing authority and she/he may refuse to do so without citing any reasons.

7. An NOC may be issued in favour of an employee in the format as prescribed by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in the Annexure “M” (copy enclosed). Such NOC may be issued on plain paper with signature/ stamp furnishing contact telephone/ fax numbers of the issuing officer.

8. These instructions may be brought to the notice of all the PSU’s, statutory bodies etc under their control for information and appropriate action.

Sd/- Indevar Pandey
Secretary to the Government of West Bengal

No. 194-PAR dated 06.06.2011