The main legal point established in the judgment is that a passport can be issued or renewed in the context of a pending criminal case only on the basis of production of orders from the concerned Court permitting the applicant to depart from India, and the exemption granted by the Central Government for citizens facing criminal proceedings.

ORDER :

Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying this Court to issue a Writ of Mandamus to direct the first respondent to reissue the passport to the Petitioner by considering the Petitioner’s application in File No.MD 2074421114322, dated 20.7.2022 within the time limit fixed by this Court.

This Writ Petition is filed seeking issuance of a Writ of Mandamus to direct the first respondent to reissue the passport to the Petitioner by considering the Petitioner’s application in File No.MD 2074421114322, dated 20.7.2022 within the time limit fixed by this Court.

2. Heard the learned counsel appearing on either side and perused the materials placed before this Court.

3. The case of the Petitioner is that the Petitioner had obtained a passport for working in abroad in the year 2013 and it is going to expire on 25.02.2023. After obtaining the above passport, the petitioner went to abroad and worked there and then returned to his native place. Now the Petitioner wants to renew the passport and also wants to include his wife’s name in the passport. In this regard, the Petitioner has submitted an application on 20.7.2022 and he was called for an enquiry on 20.7.2022 and the Petitioner has also given his detailed explanation. When the Petitioner was under the fond hope that passport will be reissued, the first respondent vide his proceedings, dated 23.8.2022 sought for explanation with regard to the pendency of criminal case in Crime No.279 of 2021, on the file of third respondent Police. The above FIR was not charge-sheeted and when the Petitioner made an copy application seeking the copy of the FIR, it was returned by the Court below stating that charge-sheet was not filed. Hence the Petitioner has filed this Writ Petition for the relief stated supra.

4. The learned counsel for the third respondent filed a counter affidavit inter-alia stating that investigation has been completed in respect of the above Crime Number and charge-sheet has been filed before the Judicial Magistrate No.III, Tirunelveli in E. Filing No.23076/2022 and the same is yet to be taken on file and prayed for dismissal of the Writ Petition.

5. This Court had an occasion to deal with a similar issue in W.P.(MD) No. 7056 of 2017 in the case of N. Chandrababu vs. the Sub Inspector of Police and another. The relevant portions in the order dated 21.04.2017 are extracted hereunder:

“3..... At this juncture, it may be relevant to discuss the legal position with regard to the right of a person facing criminal prosecution to demand issuance of passport. To decide this issue, it may be necessary to extract the following legal provisions from the Passports Act, 1967.

‘Section 5(2) of the Passports Act, 1967

On receipt of an application under this section, the passport authority, after making such inquiry, if any, as it may consider necessary, shall, subject to the other provisions of this Act, by order in writing,-

(a) issue the passport or travel document with endorsement, or, as the case may be, make on the passport or travel document the endorsement, in respect of the foreign countries specified in the application; or

(b) issue the passport or travel document with endorsement, or, as the case may be, make on the passport or travel document the endorsement, in respect of one or more of the foreign countries specified in the application and refuse to make an endorsement in respect of the other country or countries ; or

(c) refuse to issue the passport or travel document or, as the case may be, refuse to make on the passport or travel document any endorsement.

Section 6(2) of the Passports Act, 1967.

Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the passport authority shall refuse to issue a passport or travel document for visiting any foreign country under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 5 on any one or more of the following grounds, an on no other ground,

(a) that the applicant is not a citizen of India;

(b) that the applicant may, or is lik