A pending criminal case does not inherently bar the issuance of a Police Clearance Certificate if judicial permission to travel has been granted.

JUDGMENT

The above writ petition is filed with following prayers:

(i) Issue a writ of mandamus or such other writ, direction or order compelling the 2nd respondent to issue Police Clearance Certificate at the earliest;

(ii) Issue a writ of mandamus or such other writ, direction or order compelling the 2nd respondent to consider and pass order on Exhibit P6 application within a time frame by this Court.

2. The petitioner is the holder of an Indian passport.

The petitioner is having a work visa for the State of Kuwait which is valid upto 01.01.2023. The petitioner is the accused in C.C.No.1058/2017 before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Kottarakkara. The learned Magistrate granted permanent exemption from personal appearance to the petitioner as per Ext.P2 order and the petitioner was also allowed to go abroad as per Ext.P3 order. The grievance of the petitioner is that Police Clearance Certificate is not issued by the 2nd respondent. Hence, this writ petition.

3. Heard the learned counsel of the petitioner and the learned Deputy Solicitor General of India.

4. This Court in W.P.(c) No.17204 of 2021 delivered a judgment on 16.09.2021 in a similar situation. It is better to extract the relevant portion of the above judgment.

“4. The specimen Police Clearance Certificate contained in Appendix-32 of the Passport Manual reads thus:

Appendix-32 (Ref. para 2.1 Chapter-14)

Specimen PCC format for Indian Passport holders (to be issued on official letter head)

“There is no adverse information against Mr./Mrs./Miss …............ , holder of Indian Passport No. …........... issued at …....... on …..... which would render him/her ineligible for the grant of travel facilities including visa for …...... (name of the country).

Rubber Stamp of office of issue. Signature of Passport Authority

5. It is evident from the specimen referred to above that a person is entitled to Police Clearance Certificate, only if there is no adverse information which would render him/her ineligible for grant of travel facilities. There is no dispute to the fact that the pendency of a criminal case is not a reason which would render a person ineligible for grant of travel facilities in India. The requirement of law is that if there is a criminal case pending, one is entitled to travel only with the permission of the court before which the case is pending. As far as the present case is concerned, the petitioner is permitted by the criminal court to go abroad to pursue his employment. Therefore, it cannot be said that the petitioner is ineligible for travel facilities. At the same time, it cannot be said that there is no adverse information against the petitioner.

6. It is relevant to note that this Court had in Jayan v. Union of India [ 2018 (4) KLT 1077 ] observed that mere registration of a crime does not invoke either S.6 or S.10 of the Passports Act .

7. In view of the above, notwithstanding the crime registered against the petitioner as Crime No.187/2021, there is no bar in issuing a Passport to the petitioner. This is on account of two reasons (i) No “criminal proceedings” are pending in any court as contemplated under law, and (ii) even if it is deemed to be pending, since the petitioner has obtained permission from the Magistrate's Court, he can be issued with a valid Passport. If petitioner can be issued with a Passport, then it fails all logic to refuse to issue him a police clearance certificate by the Passport Authorities.

8. In such circumstances, there will be a direction to the respondent to issue Police Clearance Certificate to the petitioner, stating that there is a criminal case pending against the petitioner and that the criminal court has permitted the petitioner to go abroad to pursue his employment. Such a certificate can be issued by making appropriate changes in the specimen contained in Appendix32 referred to above. This shall be done within a week from today.

The writ petition is disposed of as above.”

In the light of the above judgment, a simi