We are in AI era; certificates/ documents issued by government must live up to global standards: Kerala High Court

This is an era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the government must stay abreast of emerging global demands and changes in order to fulfil the goal of a truly digital India, the Kerala High Court recently said [Ejo PJ v. Regional Passport Officer & Anr.]..Justice CS Dias emphasised that in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and initiatives such as IndiaStack, certificates issued by the Central government and statutory authorities have to match international standards."We are in the AI era and the 5G revolution. Our nation is a front-runner in technology. We are striving to make India Digital with initiatives like Indiastack.global, to have a repository of open standards and interoperability principles of key projects implemented under the Digital India Mission like Aadhaar, UPI, Digilocker etc. The certificates issued by the government and statutory authorities have to be internationally accepted, especially when India is a signatory to international conventions and treaties... the Government and Instrumentalities have to be abreast with the ever-emerging global demands. If our vision to have a digital India is to materialise, we must be willing to change every minute to catch up with the global world and not adopt a pedantic and rigid approach," the Court said in its judgment..The judgment was passed on a plea moved by a man seeking to get a proper police clearance certificate issued by the regional passport officer in his favour.The petitioner, employed in Kuwait, was granted a police clearance certificate after he secured bail in a criminal case registered against him in connection with some matrimonial offences.However, the Embassy of Kuwait refused to accept the certificate since it did not contain a barcode, a scanned photograph, or status of his criminal case. Even after the petitioner approached the High Court previously and obtained an order directing the authorities to issue a proper certificate, the same was not done. This led to the present petition before the High Court..In response to the plea, the passport authorities submitted that the certificates are issued from the system based on the Ministry of External Affairs database. It was contended that the central database permits the certificates to be issued with barcodes and scanned photographs only if the applicant has no criminal antecedents; otherwise, only a manual certificate can be issued without the barcode and scanned photograph.."This Court finds the stand of the first respondent to be cavil, naïve and unacceptable," the Court said in response to the submission of the passport authorities. The Court also highlighted the importance of keeping up to date with global standards. "When situations like the one on hand arise, which are global demands due to the emergence of technology, we cannot just throw our hands in the air and express helplessness. A certificate with a barcode and scanned photograph quickly confirms the information and identifies the person from large databases by scanning or swiping the document. It also eliminates the cumbersome process of apostille stamping/attestation of the document by foreign missions. Barcodes also have high-security features and eradicate fraud," the Court said. .It opined that by making minor modifications in the central database, such litigation can be averted in the future.Therefore, it directed the passport authorities to take up the matter with the competent authorities to make necessary modifications in the central system and also issue the appropriate certificate to the petitioner.It also ordered the Deputy Solicitor General of India (DSGI) to forward a copy of the judgment to the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, for information and compliance..The petitioner was represented by Advocate PI Davis. DSGI S Manu appeared for the respondents..[Read Judgment]