JUDGMENT :

S. Manikumar, J.

This is a public interest litigation filed by an organisation registered apparently under the provisions of the Travancore -Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955, and one of its members. The issues raised arise under the Passports Act, 1967. The poignant question raised is whether an authority under the Passports Act, 1967, has any power to impose penalty/fine invoking the powers under Section 12 of the Act 1967. It is submitted by the petitioners that as per relevant provisions of the Passports Act, 1967, a passport authority defined under Section 2(c) of the Act has only delegated powers to issue passport under Section 5(2)(a) or reject an incomplete passport application under Section 5(2)(c) or refuse a passport under Section 6(2) or restrict the validity under Section 7(b) or impound/revoke a passport under Section 10(3) of the said Act, and not to impose any penalty.

2. The case projected by the petitioners is that there is no provision empowering any officer to impose pecuniary penalty under the Act 1967, even though Section 12 of the Act prescribes offences and penalties, and the manner in which the power to be d