Registration of birth at Indian Consulate is mandatory for acquiring Indian citizenship by descent under Section 4.

The petitioner was born on February 18, 2000, in Mozambique to Indian citizens.

Due to a flood emergency, she returned to India at age 18–25 days on an emergency certificate issued by Mozambique.

She has resided in India since, completed her education there, and married an Indian citizen.

However, her birth was never registered at an Indian Consulate.

When she applied for an Indian passport in 2023 and 2025, the authorities refused, citing her birth abroad and the lack of a certificate of registration or naturalization.

The petitioner contended she was never a Mozambican citizen and held various Indian ID documents like Aadhaar and PAN.

1. Whether the petitioner qualifies as an Indian citizen by descent despite non-registration of birth at an Indian Consulate within the prescribed period.

2. Whether the respondent authorities were justified in refusing the passport application due to the petitioner’s failure to establish citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Section 4 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which mandates that a person born outside India shall be a citizen by descent only if the birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year of its occurrence or with the permission of the Central Government.

Citizenship Rules, 2009, regarding the procedure for registration.

Section 3 of the Act concerning citizenship by birth and the Passport Act, 1967, which restricts the issuance of passports to Indian citizens.

The Court found that since the petitioner was born outside India, her claim to citizenship was governed by Section 4 (Citizenship by Descent).

The record indicated that her parents failed to register her birth at an Indian Consulate within one year or obtain subsequent Central Government approval.

Although she held a local birth certificate from Rajkot Municipal Corporation issued via a Magistrate’s order, the court held this was insufficient for citizenship purposes as it incorrectly listed her place of birth and bypassed the statutory requirement of consular registration under the Citizenship Act.

The court reasoned that possessing Indian identity documents like Aadhaar or PAN does not substitute for the legal requirements of the Citizenship Act, and because she could not establish Indian citizenship, the passport authorities were legally bound to deny her application.

The court upheld the communication dated May 9, 2025, issued by the passport authorities but granted liberty to the petitioner to file an online or offline application for citizenship before the concerned authorities to be decided in accordance with the law.