Hon’ble V.K. Shukla, J.—Mohd. Farid s/o Mohd. Jamil r/o 21K Village Madrahna, Post Office Sohaskhas, District Siddharth Nagar at present R/o a1-Qassim University, Postal Code 52571, Post Office Number 7247, Buraidah City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through his Power of Attorney holder-Shri Mohd. Jamilk r/o 21K, Village Madrahna, Post Office Sohaskhas, District Siddharth Nagar is before us assailing the validity of order dated 26.10.2016, issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, Regional Passport Office, Passport Bhawan, Lucknow intimating that passport bearing No. L445360 issued on 12.9.2013 is impounded under Section 10(3)(e) of the Indian Passport Act, 1967.

2. Brief background of the case is that petitioner had applied for a passport by means of application which was registered on 23.5.2013 and on this application he was given an appointment to be present at the Regional Passport Office, Lucknow at 1.00 pm on 29.7.2013. The petitioner was accordingly issued a Passport on 12.9.2013 which is valid up to 11.9.2023, bearing Passport No. L4453460.

3. Record in question reflects that petitioner had solemnized his marriage with Tasneem Khan d/o Haji Rizwanul Haque Khan on 16.3.2011 and it appears that there has been matrimonial discord inter-se them. Petitioner has proceeded to make a mention that at the point of time when the aforesaid marriage was solemnized, the petitioner was pursuing his Ph.D. in Mathematics. Petitioner has contended that he has been selected on the post of Assistant Professor in Al-Qassim University, Buraidah City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Thereafter he joined the University and has been working there since 15.8.2015. Petitioner has proceeded to make a mention that on 7.8.2013 an NCR came to be registered as NCR No. 68 of 2013 under Section 323, 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code registered by Usman Khan a relative of Mrs. Tasneem Khan against the petitioner alongwith 3 others. Petitioner has further proceeded to make a mention that subsequently, an application dated 13.8.2013 under Section 155(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure came to be filed before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Siddharth Nagar and the same came to be registered as Case No. 712/2013—Usman Khan v. Zamin and others. However, it may be noted that the cognizance on the charge-sheet dated 28.3.2014 was taken in the matter to the Petitioner only on 14.1.2015.

4. From the record in question this much is reflected that criminal proceeding had also been lodged by Mrs. Tasneem Khan by means of lodging a First Information Report dated 22.10.2013 registered as Case Crime No. 1325/2013 under Section 323, 498A and 313 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section of Dowry Prohibition Act. However, it may be pertinent to note that the aforesaid First Information Report lodged against the petitioner and six others was found to be false and accordingly a final report was filed in the matter on 26.5.2014 and it has been submitted that same was on the basis of a compromise between the parties. Petitioner has received an E-mail dated 31.8.2015 wherein certain queries were made from the petitioner. The E-mail notice dated 31.8.2016 is as follows:

“Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 5:23 p.m.

Letter Ref. No. SCN/307031828/16

SUBJECT: Clarifications required regarding Issuance of Passport facilities to Shri/Smt/Kumari/Master MOHAMMAD FARID

Dear Applicant,

This is in reference to receipt of an adverse Police Verification report corresponding to your application for Passport, with file number LK1067165581013, dated 29/07/2013.

You are therefore, called upon to provide a suitable explanation. 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.

Also state why action should not be taken to impound the passport number L4453460 dated 12/09/2013 under Section 10 (3)(e), “Criminal case is pending before