Hyderabad: The Telangana high court criticised both the central and state govt authorities for their vague and helpless attitude in handling a woman’s complaint regarding her lost passport.Describing the conduct of the concerned officials as negligent and lacking basic procedural clarity, the HC opined that the petitioner was forced to “wade in the dark” and “run from pillar to post” to understand what documents were required.The HC made the observations while hearing the 28-year-old woman’s petition. She filed a complaint on March 18, 2025, after allegedly losing her passport while travelling from Attapur to Kishanbagh. However, her application was rejected on May 1, 2025, citing vague reasons for non-submission of “proper documents.” The HC set aside the authorities’ decision to reject her application.According to the woman, after losing her passport in March, she submitted certain documents, including a newspaper advertisement, Aadhaar card, and electricity bill, for the issuance of a duplicate passport. However, the police and immigration authorities dismissed her complaint, stating she had not submitted ‘proper documents’ — without specifying what those documents should be.The court criticised this opaque handling of the matter, stating that neither the state nor the central authorities indicated what was required for registering the complaint or applying for a duplicate passport. “Unless and until the authorities specify what documents are required… the petitioner cannot assume what is needed,” the court observed.The HC directed the petitioner to file a fresh application along with relevant documents and instructed the authorities to process it in a transparent manner, including formally requesting any additional information if required.
