HARIPUR: The local consumer court has ordered passport authorities to issue revised passport with correct credentials to a woman complainant without charging any fee from her.

To make the process of passport issuance more easy and errorless, the court issued a guideline to the authorities asking them to bring improvement in the data gathering and verification and issuance of copy within stipulated time.

According to the court order, a woman complainant Nida Mohammad Shah had lodged a complaint on March 10, 2025, saying that the local passport office issued her passport No.QG4162611 last week but her name was mistakenly written by the passport authorities as Nida Mohammad Khan.

When she approached for correction, the passport authorities, according to the complainant, asked her to pay a fee for correct entry which she refused and moved the consumer court.

The consumer court judge, Muneera Ashraf Abbasi, summoned the officials of local passport office and directed them to issue a revised copy of the complainant’s passport with her correct name within seven days without charging any additional fee from her.

The court while disposing the complaint also directed the passport department to minimise typo and other errors. The court ordered that the department must improve data gathering, validation and verification system and give time to an applicant to see and correct the mistakes if any, use biometric and modern technologies to minimise errors.

The court also issued direction for timely delivery of passport copy within the given time, setting up a special desk for resolution of disputes between applicants and department under the law of alternative dispute resolution.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2025