Source: thehindu | Image Courtesy: khabarindiatv
Making passport issuing process hassle free for first-time normal category passport applicants, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday announced the government’s decision to do away with police verification prior to issuing the passport.
Now under normal category first-time passport applicants can get their passport without police verification, however it needs to be done later.
This she tweeted in series on tweets on Monday.
1. If you submit application with copies of Aadhar, Voter ID and PAN Card with an affidavit of no criminal case, we will issue the Passport.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) January 25, 2016
2. The Police verification will be done later.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) January 25, 2016
3. You can choose any appointment date from the earliest five available dates for Passport related services.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) January 25, 2016
This is to expedite the process however the applicants needs Aadhaar, Voter ID and PAN Card. Annexure-I which lays out the format of the affidavit declaring “no criminal record” of the applicant, will be processed on Post-Police Verification basis, subject to successful online validation of Aadhaar number.
Post police verification needs to be done after the applicant has acquired the new passport, it has been streamlined with the launch of “mPassport Police App” for speedy submission of Police Verification (PV) report.
As per the press release “The app would facilitate the field level verification officers to directly capture the PV report into the system digitally. With launch of this app, the need to download and print the physical Personal Particulars Form and questionnaire would no longer be required, resulting in paperless end-to-end digital flow of the PV process.” The new app will reduce the police verification process to 21 days.
“Accordingly, a custom mobile application (mPassport Police App) has been proposed for Thana and Field Verification processing teams in order to improve the overall PVR processing cycle time. The app is available for download to the Police Station users who are already accessing the PSP Police (Web) Application for the purpose of Police Verification processing of the Passport Services applicants for recording the inputs of field verification processing done at the applicant’s address,” quoted the passport India website.
