Centre to file review plea against HC order dispensing with husband’s signature in wife’s passport form

Centre to file review plea against HC order dispensing with husband’s signature in wife’s passport form

Sometimes, applicants obtain passports by mentioning a third person’s name as their spouse, the Centre said.

MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S. CHENNAI  03.07.2025

The Ministry of External Affairs has decided to file a review petition seeking a clarification with respect to a recent ruling passed by the Madras High Court that married women need not obtain the husband’s signature in Form J while applying for a passport.

Appearing before Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on Wednesday, Additional Solicitor General AR.L. Sundaresan said the passport authorities insisted on the husband’s signature only to prevent the malpractice of obtaining a passport with false details regarding the spouse.

He said there was an office memorandum to that effect. “Sometimes, applicants obtain passports by mentioning a third person’s name as their spouse and use the details entered in the passport as evidence elsewhere. That is the reason we want to file a review,” he added.

The judge accepted his request and agreed to hear the review petition.

While allowing a writ petition filed by a woman applicant from Chennai, the judge had, on June 18, observed that married women could not be treated as chattels belonging to their husbands. Since the petitioner before the court was facing a divorce case against her husband, the judge had pointed out that it would be next to impossible for her to obtain her husband’s signature in Form J. He had also said women could not be considered to have lost their individuality after marriage.