ORDER

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Central Government Counsel appearing on behalf of the Union of India and learned counsel for the State.

2. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that petitioner was issued a passport bearing Passport No.L7755894 on 11.03.2014 and the same was valid upto 10.03.2024 as would manifest from Annexure- 1 to the writ application.

3. It is next submitted that during currency of the passport, no complaint whatsoever was made against the petitioner alleging any violation of the condition and misuse of the passport. It is further submitted that petitioner was made an accused in a criminal case being Pipra P. S. Case No.40 of 2023 dated 28.01.2023 registered under Sections 341, 323, 342, 324, 307, 379, 504, 506 and 34 of the I.P.C. read with Section 27 of the Arms Act. The petitioner was granted the privilege of anticipatory bail by an order dated 13.09.2024 in Cr. Misc. No.47612 of 2024 (Annexure- P/2) passed by this Court on the ground that the case has been compromised (Annexure- P/2A).

4. The petitioner applied for renewal of his passport on 12.12.2023 on urgent basis and the passport was renewed on 15.12.2023 (Annexure- P/3). It is submitted that during course of verification, it transpired that petitioner has been made an accused in Pipra P. S. Case No.40 of 2023, accordingly, the respondent no.2 based on the said information, impounded the passport of the petitioner by an order dated 07.02.2024 (Annexure- P/4), which is impugned in the instant writ application.

5. It is next submitted that respondent no.2 impounded the passport of the petitioner in exercise of power conferred under Section 10((3)(e) of the Passport Act, 1967 with a direction to the petitioner to submit his passport forthwith with the passport office.

6. The learned counsel submits that Section 10(5) of the Passport Act, 1967 incorporates:- “(5) Where the passport authority makes an order varying or cancelling the endorsements on, or varying the conditions of, a passport or travel document under sub-section (1) or an order impounding or revoking a passport or travel document under sub-section (3), it shall record in writing a brief statement of the reasons for making such order and furnish to the holder of the passport or travel document on demand a copy of the same unless in any case, the passport authority is of the opinion that it will not be in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of India, friendly relations of India with any foreign country or in the interests of the general public to furnish such a copy.”

7. It is submitted that from conjoint reading of Section 10(3)(e) and Section 10(5) of the Passport Act, 1967, it would manifest that it is mandatory for the Passport Officer to give reason for recording his satisfaction that a case for impounding the passport is made out under Section 10(3)(e) of the Passport Act, 1967 and only on the basis of pending criminal case against the petitioner, the petitioner’s passport has been impounded under Section 10(3)(e) of the Passport Act, 1967.

8. It is submitted that the Passport Officer thus was required to record reasons for arriving at a conclusion that as to why impounding of the passport was necessary, in view of pending criminal case, but then, the order impugned does not even briefly record the reason for impounding the passport.

9. It is next submitted that investigation in Pipra P. S. Case No.40 of 2023 is still pending. It is further submitted that the police after investigation may submit charge-sheet connecting the petitioner with the offence finding the allegations to be true, or after investigation the police may come to a considered conclusion that petitioner is innocent and may file final form exonerating the petitioner from the allegations, but in both the situation, the police report will attain finality only when the learned trial Court applies its judicial mind on the point of cognizanc