Court No. - 39
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 10569 of 2016 Petitioner :- Mohammad Tahir Respondent :- Union Of India And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Shahid Ali Siddiqui Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,S.C.,Sunil Mishra
Hon'ble B. Amit Sthalekar,J.
Hon'ble Mrs. Manju Rani Chauhan,J.
Heard Sri Shahid Ali Siddiqui, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Sunil Mishra, learned counsel for the respondents.
The petitioner in the writ petition is seeking quashing of the order dated 20.03.2015 whereby the Passport Officer has rejected his claim for issuance of a passport. The appellate authority has rejected the appeal of the petitioner preferred under Section 11 of the Passports Act, 1967 by the other impugned order dated 23.11.2015.
Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the petitioner was issued passport no. Z 1790016 (Hand-written) on 01.10.2007 valid upto 30.09.2017. In the meantime, he wanted a computer generated passport and therefore, he filed writ petition no. 4711 of 2015 which was disposed of by the High Court vide order dated 19.02.2015 directing the Regional Passport Officer, Lucknow to decide the petitioner's on-line application dated 16.9.2014. On 19.02.2015 it is stated that the petitioner came to know that a first information report had been lodged against him. It is stated that the Regional Passport Officer has rejected the petitioner's on- line application for issuance of passport on the ground that as per the police verification report submitted by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Azamgarh there are two criminal cases pending against the petitioner and No Objection Certificate (NOC) has been obtained from the concerned court where the these cases are pending. Aggrieved by the order dated 20.3.2015, the petitioner preferred an appeal before the Joint Secretary/Chief Passport Officer who has also rejected the appeal vide order dated 23.11.2015 on the same ground that there are two criminal cases pending against the petitioner.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance upon the Government Order dated 25.8.1993 issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India vide Gazette Notification No. G.S.R. 570(E) under Section 22 of the Passports Act, 1967, copy of which has also been filed as annexure-4 to the writ petition.
A perusal of the Office Memorandum dated 25.8.1993 discloses that persons against whom proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by them are pending before a criminal court may be exempted from the rigour of the provisions of clause (f) of sub-section (2) of Section 6 of the Passports Act, 1967 provided they fulfill the conditions laid down in the circular. The circular may be reproduced and reads as under :
"In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (a) of Section 22 of the Passports Act, 1967 (15 of 1967) and in supersession of the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of External Affairs No. G.S.R. 298(E), dated the 14th April, 1976, the Central Government, being of the opinion that it is necessary in public interest to do so, hereby exempts citizens of India against whom proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by them are pending before a criminal court in India and who produce orders from the court concerned permitting them to depart from India, from the operation of the provisions of clause (f) of sub-section (2) of Section 6 of the said Act, subject to the following conditions, namely :-
(a).............
(b).............
(c) any passport issued in terms of (a)(i) above can be further renewed only on the basis of a fresh court order specifying a further period of validity of the passport or specifying a period for travel abroad."
The import of the language of the said circular requires the petitioner to apply before the concerned criminal court before whom the criminal proceedings are pending.
A perusal of the appellate order dated 23.11.2015 shows that two criminal cases namely, (i) Crime No. 645 of 2009 under Section 143, 342, 353 & 120-B I.P.C. and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act & (ii) Crime No. 969 of 2009 under Section 143, 341 & 353 I.P.C. registered at P.S. Bilariyaganj, District Azamgarh are still pending trial.
Learned counsel for the respondents referred to paragraphs 4 & 5 of his counter affidavit which also refers to the Government Memorandum dated 25.8.1993 and submitted that the petitioner has not submitted any order of any court for issuance of passport.
We also find that the passport was valid upto 30.09.2017 which period has also passed and therefore, the question now will not be one of re-issuance of passport but one of issuance of a fresh passport but this will be subject to the petitioner complying with the conditions as laid down in the Government Memorandum dated 25.8.1993.
We, therefore, set aside the order dated 20.3.2015 and the appellate order dated 23.11.2015 and dispose of the writ petition with the following directions :
1) The petitioner shall file an application before the trial court where the criminal cases are pending and apply for permission for issuance of a passport in terms of GSR No. 570(E) dated 25th August, 1993.
2) Upon receipt of such order being passed by the trial court, the petitioner shall apply for issuance of a passport through on-line procedure and shall also file a certified copy of the order of the trial before the Passport Officer.
3) Upon receipt of such order of the trial court, the Passport Officer shall process the application of the petitioner in accordance with law within two weeks from the date of submission of the on-line application.
There shall be no order as to costs.
Order Date :- 23.1.2019 nd