Heard Sri A. Ravinder Reddy for the petitioner and Sri T. Venkat Raju Goud for the respondent and with their consent this writ petition is decided at this stage. This writ petition has been instituted seeking a writ of mandamus for declaring the action of the sole respondent – Regional Passport Officer, Hyderabad at Secunderabad, in not renewing / reissuing the Passport of the writ petitioner, as bad in law. The facts relevant for our purpose are in a narrow compass. The writ petitioner has secured her Post Graduate degree in Education from Osmania University and sought to further prosecute her education and for that purpose solicited admission in the prestigious University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. She has now been granted admission for M.Phil. course by the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and she has also been awarded 100% fee concession scholarship by the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. The writ petitioner holds an Indian Passport bearing No.E-6330819, which was valid up to 11-10-2009 only. However, against the writ petitioner a crime was registered by the Kushaiguda Police Station, in Crime No.490 of 2008. The writ petitioner has moved a quash-petition against the said registration of crime against her by instituting Criminal Petition No.3008 of 2010. This Court had admitted the said criminal petition on 17-08-2010 and also ordered interim stay of further proceedings. The writ petitioner, it is now brought to my notice by the learned counsel, has moved Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No.8315 of 2010 in the aforementioned criminal petition and this Court passed an order on 08-09-2010, granting permission to depart for United Kingdom for the period from September 2010 to 31-10-2011, for pursuing M.Phil. course in the University of Cambridge, on her executing a personal bond in a sum of Rs.1,00,000/-(Rupees One Lakh only) with two sureties each for the like sum and that the writ petitioner would also furnish an undertaking to the effect that she will return to India on or before the said date and appear before the Court in which the criminal case is pending against her, in case such a requirement arises any time during this period. The learned counsel for the writ petitioner has also pointed out that the writ petitioner has since complied with these two conditions of furnishing the necessary security bond and also furnish an undertaking to appear in the criminal case, should such a necessity arise, at any time prior to 31-10-2011. Therefore, the short question that falls for consideration is whether her Passport deserves to be renewed / reissued or not. For the purpose of regulating the exercise of issuance of the Passports / Travel Documents, etcetera, the Parliament enacted the Indian Passport Act, 1967 – Act No.15 of 1967 (henceforth referred to as ‘the Act’). Section 3 of the Act mandates that no person shall depart from, or attempt to depart from India, unless he holds in this behalf a valid passport or travel document. Section 5 deals with the manner of application for securing the Passport and the method of dealing with the same. Section 6 of the Act laid down the conditions, subject to which the Passport Issuing Authority can refuse to make an endorsement for visiting any country or refuse to issue a Passport or Travel Document for visiting any foreign country. It is significant to notice that Clause (f) of Sub-section (2) of Section 6 of the Act, makes it clear that the Passport Issuing Authority shall refuse to issue a Passport or a Travel Document for visiting any foreign country to a person against whom proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by him are pending before a criminal court in India. Therefore, the writ petitioner has a genuine apprehension that her request for re-issuance / renewal or revalidating her Passport, by the Passport Issuing Authority, will not be acceded to.

However, recognizing the fact that right to travel abroad forms an important facet o