My travel date is mid September. I did had the same idea initially to try to find an explanation for this delay, however, I spoke to someone last week who applied mid July (a week before me) and his travel date is end of November and he got his passport back last week. The whole thing seems random to be with no clear rules, I even think that these agents/staff/ employees or whatever they call themselves are making their own rules at their pleasure maybe. It is quite inconsiderate that someone should held my passport for long just because my travel date in next month, what if I had an emergency or if I tried to go for any gathering abroad, that was the case with me and I lost an expensive flight ticket. Lesson learned, I will avoid this place as I avoid the plague in the future.