The right to hold a passport and travel abroad is a fundamental liberty, and restrictions based solely on pending criminal proceedings must be just, fair, and reasonable.

ORDER :

NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA, J.

Petitioner, a medical practitioner holding an M.D. in Internal Medicine, who is managing Dr. Bhargavi Diabetes Center at Vijayawada, applied for renewal of her passport bearing No. 27880151 under File No. VJ2077360341525 dated 31.01.2025 before the passport authorities at Vijayawada. The authorities, by the notice dated 21.02.2025, impugned in this Writ Petition, declined to process the Application and required her to obtain prior permission from the Court of the III Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Nampally, Hyderabad, on the ground of pendency of criminal proceedings in C.C. No. 3546 of 2021. Aggrieved thereby, petitioner is before this Court for a declaration that impugned action violates Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

1.1. It is stated, during police verification, it was reported that Crime No. 126 of 2006 of S.R. Nagar Police Station, Hyderabad, for the offences under Sections 406 and 420 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, had culminated in filing of charge sheet and was pending as C.C. No. 3546 of 2021 before the Court of the learned III Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Nampally, Hyderabad. Based on this report, the 3^rd respondent issued communication dated 30.05.2023 seeking clarification from petitioner regarding pendency of criminal case. Petitioner is stated to have submitted the detailed explanation dated 06.06.2023 that she became aware of the criminal proceedings only during police verification process. Upon approaching the trial Court for a certified copy of the charge sheet, she was informed that original case file was missing from the court records. She thereafter, filed an Application seeking her discharge from the case and another Application seeking ‘No Objection Certificate’ for the purpose of passport renewal. However, due to non-availability of the case file, no orders have been passed on either Application. The docket entries available on e-Courts portal reflect that the file remains untraceable.

1.2. As the renewal Application dated 17.02.2023 was not acted upon, petitioner approached the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Writ Petition No. 12922 of 2022. By order dated 02.07.2024, the said Writ Petition was disposed of with a direction to the 3rd respondent to process the Application without raising objections on the basis of pendency of C.C. No. 3546 of 2021. The Court clarified that prior permission from the criminal Court would be required only if petitioner intended to travel abroad and that she should remain available for appearance before the trial court as and when required.

1.3. Pursuant to the said order, the 3rd respondent renewed petitioner’s passport only for a limited period of one year from 02.08.2024 to 01.08.2025 and issued passport bearing No. 27880151. Thereafter, she submitted the present Application. In response, the Authorities issued the letter dated 10.02.2025 again seeking clarification regarding pendency of criminal case. Petitioner, it is stated, personally appeared before the 3^rd respondent on 21.02.2025 and clarified that all the relevant documents had already been submitted earlier, and that the limited renewal granted earlier itself demonstrated acknowledgment of pending proceedings, hence, requested that this Application be treated as continuation of the earlier renewal process.

1.4. Despite the above, the impugned notice was issued. Challenging the said notice, petitioner filed Writ Petition No. 6241 of 2025 before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amaravati. By order dated 18.03.2025, the Writ Petition was disposed of granting liberty to petitioner to approach