The impounding of a passport must be done in accordance with just and fair procedures, and the exercise of power by Passport Authorities must adhere to the Principles of Natural Justice and statutory provisions of the Passport Act.

JUDGMENT

Jasgurpreet Singh Puri, J. (Oral) - The present writ petition has been filed under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ for quashing the impugned order dated 28.10.2019 (Annexure P-14) passed by respondent No.2-Joint Secretary (PSP) & Chief Passport Officer, New Delhi vide which respondent No.2 denied to adjudicate the appeal of the petitioner which was filed by him challenging the impounding of his passport with a further prayer seeking direction to respondent No.3-Regional Passport Officer, Chandigarh to release the passport of the petitioner which was seized on 01.12.2017 vide Seizure Memo (Annexure P-5) and was sent to the Regional Passport Officer, Chandigarh or to issue a fresh passport.

2. The brief facts of the present case are that the petitioner was holding a valid passport and vide Annexure P-1 dated 10.10.2017, he was issued Show Cause Notice by respondent No.3-Regional Passport Authority, Chandigarh seeking clarifications regarding issuance of passport facilities to him. By way of the aforesaid Show Cause Notice, he was called upon to provide a suitable explanation and submit a fresh application with correct details regarding the circumstances under which he had suppressed the material information in his Passport Application and obtained the aforesaid passport. The said Show Cause Notice was issued due to the reason that in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of India and also friendly relations of India with any foreign country and also to state as to why action should not be taken to impound the passport No.N6507248 dated 07.01.2016, under Section 10(3)(c) 'In the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India and also the security of India' the contents of the aforesaid Show Cause Notice vide Annexure P-1 are reproduced as under:-

'To,

HARPAL SINGH

S/O HARJINDER SINGH VILL. LOHARI

KALAN TEH-BASSI PATHANA, FATEHGARH SAHIB, PUNJAB, INDIA, PINCODE -140412, TEL NO.-

Subject: Clarifications required regarding issuance of Passport facilities to Shri/Smt./Kumari/Master HARPAL SINGH

Dear Applicant,

This is in reference to receipt of an adverse Police Verification report corresponding to your application for Passport issue, with file number CH2068702391815, dated 07/01/2016.

You are therefore, called upon to provide a suitable explanation and submit a fresh application with correct details. Please note that you are required to furnish a proper explanation regarding the circumstances under which you had suppressed the material information in your passport application and obtained the above said passport.

This Show Cause Notice is issued to you due to the reason mention below:-

In the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India the security of India, friendly relations of India with any foreign country.

Also state why action should not be taken to impound the passport number N6507248 dated 07/01/2016, under Section 10(3)(c), 'In the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of India, friendly relations of India with any foreign country' of the Passport Act, 1967 and Section 12(1)(b) of the Passport Act, 1967 should not be initiated against you.

Please quote the reference number mentioned in the top block of this letter for further correspondence.

Yours Sincerely"

3. Thereafter, as per the learned counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner being an Officer of the Court/Advocate at District Court, Fatehgarh Sahib and also a Human Rights Activist, was to attend a conference at Bangkok, Thailand which was to be conducted by the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the responsibility to protect along with other International Organizations and the invitation was issued to the petitioner by the United Nations Organization dated 01.11.2017 vide Annexure P-4. The said invitation was extended to the petitioner by Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Prev