No Orange Passports, Last Page Will Continue to be Printed: MEA
The decision to do away with the last page of the passport -- containing the name of parents, spouse, address of the passport holder, ECR no. and old passport no. -- has also been nullified.
New Delhi, Jan 30: The government on Tuesday reversed its decision to print passports with orange jacket cover for the Emigration Check Required (ECR) passport holders.
The decision to do away with the last page of the passport -- containing the name of parents, spouse, address of the passport holder, ECR no. and old passport no. -- has also been nullified.
"Have decided to continue with the current practice of printing of the last page of the passport and not to issue a separate passport with orange colour jacket to ECR passport holders," said the statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The decision to roll-back the changes came a day after the Kerala High Court issued a notice to the Centre, seeking reply on a petition filed by one Shamsuddin from Kolam who claimed that the new passport will violate the rights of privacy and equality.
Since the ECR passports are availed by those who have not passed class 10 examinations, the orange colour passport would make their educational qualification public, thereby violating the person's privacy and dignity, the petitioner told the court.
The ECR passports are mostly sought by the unskilled workers who join the labour workforce overseas. They are required to get clearance from the Protector General of Emigrants to go abroad, in order to protect them from exploitation.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 30, 2018 08:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).