New Delhi, Feb 28: In a departure from settled procedures, the Delhi High Court has asked the passport office to issue a passport to a minor girl without mentioning the name of her father in the travel document.

Justice Muralidhar allowed the plea of a single mother who had sought a direction to Delhi Regional Passport Office (RPO) to do away with the mandatory procedure of mentioning the name of her divorced husband in the passport of their minor daughter.

The court asked the woman, who was divorced in 2007, to file an affidavit before the RPO stating that she will inform the authorities if she marries again.

"If such an affidavit is furnished, the RPO will ensure that the name of the father in the passport of the petitioner (girl) is left blank," the court said.

The RPO, which had not issued the passport, took the plea that as per established rules the name of the father can be ommitted only when the mother of the minor undertakes that she will not marry again.

The Naraina-based mother of two girls had told the court that her husband left her barely four months after the birth of her younger daughter.

The court said in some circumstances, such as passport application of a child by a divorced mother A case where the father has severed all contact with the child or when the father is unknown (likely in cases of birth due to sexual assault), the established procedures can be done away with.

PTI