Panji, Oct 2 (TNN): The Union external affairs ministry has castigated Goa police as also police in other states for undue delay in police verification of passport applicants and for other irregularities.
In a recent letter to Goa chief secretary, the foreign secretary of ministry of external affairs wrote to say that in the last one year, Goa police has been taking "on an average 79 days instead of the desired 21 days" in completing the police verification of passport applicants.
Pointing out that police in other states are also guilty of the same fault, the foreign secretary wrote, "This has led to a large number of passports pending only for want of police verification. The concerned applicants are therefore justifiably aggrieved. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on MEA has also taken serious note of this delay in the process of verification."
The foreign secretary continues, "The police officials entrusted with the work of verification do not visit the residences of applicants to check on their antecedents, personal particulars/ address, etc. but instead call them to the police stations. It is also found that the reports are often incomplete and vague leading to re-verification."
The foreign secretary has urged the police to switch over to the "district police headquarters (DPHq) model" for speedy police verification. Under this new system, the personal particulars of the passport applicant are generated through the system. On the generation of the police verification request from the passport seva kendra, an electronic copy is sent to the respective DPHq, which in turn forwards copies of the police verification forms to respective police stations and CID.
On receipt of police verification report (PVR), the DPHq staff carry out data entry and approve the report electronically with a digital signature. The PVR is then sent to the passport office for scanning and uploading. DPHq officers are expected to ensure that the PVR is collected from police stations and dispatched to passport office without delay.