Govt takes step to bring down waiting period for police clearance certificates for passport applicants

New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) Passport applicants in Delhi can now expect quicker issuance of police clearance certificates (PCCs) with the government on Friday rolling out an App for reducing the verification timeline.

The Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Delhi said the city police are being given mobile tablets to reduce the passport issuance timeline by 10 days.

It said Home Minister Amit Shah has dedicated 350 mobile tablets to the personnel of Delhi Police on Thursday.

Police verification is an integral part of the passport issuance system.

“Various steps have been taken to streamline and expedite the process. To further expedite the process the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), introduced ‘mPassport Police App’,” the RPO said.

“On February 16, on the occasion of Delhi Police Raising Day, the Home Minister of India dedicated 350 mobile Tablets to the personnel of Special Branch/Delhi Police. This would result in the entire process of police verification and submission report digital and paperless.” it said in a statement.

The RPO said the process of verification using tablets is slated to reduce the verification time from 15 days to five days, which will be a great step towards improving the services.

“This would effectively reduce the Passport issuance timeline by 10 days,” it said.

The Ministry of External Affairs is the nodal ministry for the issuance of passports.

To address the surge in demand for Police Clearance Certificates, the MEA last year decided to include the facility to apply for PCC services at all online Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) across India.