ORDER :

This Writ Petition has been filed for the issue of Writ of Mandamus directing the second respondent to renew the Passport of the petitioner.

2. The case of the petitioner is that he was issued with a Passport by the second respondent in the year 2011 and the same was valid upto 30.01.2021. The petitioner is said to be working at Saudi Arabia in a private concern. The petitioner applied for the re-issue/renewal of the Passport and he received a communication from the Consulate General of India, Indian Embassy, Saudi Aabia to the effect that there is a criminal case pending against the petitioner. On this ground, the respondents refused to re-issue/renew the Passport of the petitioner. Aggrieved by the same, the present Writ Petition has been filed before this Court.

3. The first and second respondents have filed a counter affidavit in this case. The relevant portions in the counter affidavit are extracted hereunder:

“(5) It is submitted that the petitioner's passport application has been processed by Embassy of India, Riyadh for re-issue of passport on PRE-police verification reports basis. On screening the records in official system it is noticed that in response to the police