The right to travel abroad is a fundamental right under Article 21, which cannot be denied based on the actions of relatives.

JUDGMENT :

1. The petitioner, through the medium of this petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeks a writ of mandamus directing the respondent No. 4-Additional Director General of Police, CID, J&K to submit the report along with its recommendations in the case of the petitioner to the respondent No. 2-Regional Passport Officer, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu without any further delay; with a further direction to the respondent No. 2-Regional Passport Officer, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu to take a decision and pass an appropriate order in the case of the petitioner for grant of passport in his favour.

2. The petitioner, a resident of UT of Jammu and Kashmir, being a diploma holder in Engineering with a desire to go abroad in search of good job as a career applied for issuance of a passport through "on line‟ process under File No. JM2065603398021 dated 06.09.2021 and thereafter the petitioner was informed to contact in the office of Passport Authority at Udhampur to fill up the application form and for verification of particulars/documents; that the petitioner accordingly approached in the said office where the petitioner‟s particulars were screened and verified and the petitioner was told that his case would be processed accordingly through concerned quarters of CID/Police and would be finally submitted after getting reports to the office of the respondent No. 2-Regional Passport Officer, Jammu for taking decision with regard to grant of passport in favour of the petitioner.

3. It is stated in the petition that the petitioner, after waiting for sufficient time, was not informed about the status of his case with regard to grant of passport which constrained the petitioner to again approach in the office of the respondents No. 2 and 4 to verify about his case who told that police verification report submitted by the concerned quarter was not clear, as such, his application is under review in the Regional Passport Office.

4. It is alleged in the petition that despite a lapse of more than a year, the respondent No. 2-Regional Passport Officer has not taken a final decision till date even after reports have been submitted by the concerned quarters; that the petitioner apprehends that the case of the petitioner has been deliberately delayed by the respondents in order to carve out a false ground and reason for denying the passport to the petitioner is that one of the brothers of the petitioner, namely, Late Mohd. Ayaz Malik was killed by the security forces in an encounter in a militancy related incident on 24.04.2011.

5. Lastly, the petitioner submits that the petitioner is fully eligible for grant of passport, as no adverse report has been submitted by any agency against him which may disentitle the petitioner for grant of passport.

6. Pursuant to notice, objections have been filed by the respondents No. 1 and 2 wherein it is stated that on 17.06.2002, adverse police verification report was received regarding the petitioner with the remarks “Not Cleared” and “may likely to misuse the passport”; that a show cause notice dated 03.08.2022 was issued to the petitioner to furnish explanation for "not cleared‟ police report; and lastly that the petitioner instead of replying to the show cause notice issued to him, has approached this court, through the medium of the instant petition.

7. Objections on behalf of the respondent No. 4 has also been filed, wherein it is stated that the passport verification report in respect of character and antecedents of the petitioner was got verified through field agencies which revealed that petitioner's brother namely Mohd. Ayaz Malik @ Abu Musa remained a militant of HM outfit who was ki