Embassy of India, Berne, Switzerland : Imposition of Penalty for not surrendering Indian Passport

Imposition of Penalty for not surrendering Indian Passport

It is mandatory for Indian passport holders to surrender their passports to the nearest Indian Mission/Post immediately after acquisition of foreign nationality. Since the misuse of Indian passports constitute offences under Section 12(1A) of the Passport Act 1967, which states :
“whoever, not being a citizen of India -

(a) makes an application for a passport or obtain a passport by suppressing information about his nationality, or

(b) holds a forged passport or any travel document shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to five years and with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend to fifty thousand rupees", it has been decided to impose penalty on a graded scale for such violations as per details given below:-

S.No.	Scenario	Penalty	Section
01.	Passport not surrendered up to three years and not used for travel after obtaining foreign passport	No Penalty	-----
02.	Passport not surrendered up to three years and travelled once after obtaining foreign passport.	No penalty for retention of passport but penalty of Rs.10,000 (CHF 450.- *) for travel on Indian passport	12(1A)
03.	Passport not surrendered up to three years and travelled more than once after obtaining foreign passport.	No penalty for retention of passport but penalty of Rs.10,000 for each travel on Indian passport (*aggregate penalty on travel not to exceed Rs.50,000 ) (CHF 2250.-)**	12(1A)
04.	Passport not surrendered for over three years and used for travel after obtaining foreign passport.	Penalty of Rs.10,000.-(CHF 450.-) for retention of passport and penalty of Rs.10,000 (CHF450.-) for each travel on Indian passport (*aggregate penalty on travel not to exceed Rs.50,000) (CHF 2250.-)**	12(1A)
05.	Renewal/re-issue of Indian passport and travelling on it after acquiring foreign nationality.	(i) Rs.25,000 (CHF 1125.-) for each renewal/re-issue and (ii) Rs.10,000 (CHF 450.-) on each travel on Indian passport (*aggregate penalty on travel not to exceed Rs.50,000 ) (CHF 2250.- )** * at official exchange rate	12(1A)