V. S. Deshpande,j. (Oral)

( 1 ) IN Satwant Singh Sawhney V. D. Ramarathnam, (1967) 3 SCR 525, (i) the majority of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held that right to travel abroad was a part of "personal liberty" and as such a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. It could, therefore, be regulated only "according to procedure established by law" thereunder and not by mere executive discretion and further the exercise of executive discretion was also violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. Parliament thereupon enacted the Passports Act, 1967 (No. 15 of 1967) (hereinafter called the Act) to establish the procedure under which passports may be granted or refused to applicants by the Central Government. Under section 6 (2) (f) of the Act, the passport authority shall refuse to issue a passport on the ground "that proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by the applicant are pending before a criminal court in India".

( 2 ) THE application of the appellant Peter Samouel Wallace for a passport was rejected on this ground under section 6 (2) (f) of the Act by the Regional passport Officer, Delhi, inasmuch as several crimin

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