IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS DATED: 04.02.2026 CORAM THE HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE P.T. ASHA Rajasekar Ayyasamy ..Petitioner(s)

Vs

1. The Regional Passport Officer Regional Passport Office Chennai Royala Towers, No. 2 and 3, 4^th Floor Old No.785, New No.158, Anna Salai Chennai – 2.

2. The Inspector of Police New Town Police Station, Cuddalore, Crime No.524 of 2024 ..Respondent(s)

PRAYER : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records pertaining in the impugned show cause notice in Letter Ref.No.SCN/1053011336/25 dated 23.12.2025, issued by the 1^st respondent and quash the same and consequently direct the 1^st respondent to process petitioner’s passport application in File No.MA MA1066070853225 dated 12.12.2025 and issue passport within a time frame fixed by this Court.

For Petitioner(s): Mr.S.Arivazhagan For Respondent(s): Mr.L.J.Vengatesh Central Government Standing Counsel for R1 Mr.L.Baskaran Govt. Advocate [ Crl.Side] for R2

ORDER

The petitioner has filed the above writ petition for the following relief:

“To issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records pertaining in the impugned show cause notice in Letter Ref.No.SCN/1053011336/25 dated 23.12.2025, issued by the 1^st respondent and quash the same and consequently direct the 1^st respondent to process petitioner’s passport application in File No.MA MA1066070853225 dated 12.12.2025 and issue a passport within a time frame to be fixed by this Court.”

2. It is the case of the petitioner that he had submitted his application for issuance of passport before the 1^st respondent with all the necessary documents on 09.12.2025, which was taken on file as File No.MA MA1066070853225 After receipt of the said application, the first respondent had issued a show cause notice dated 12.12.2025 to the petitioner stating that an adverse report had been received against him from the second respondent. The petitioner appeared in person before the 1^st respondent and submitted all the required particulars on 23.12.2025. Thereafter, he came to know that a case in Crime No.524/2024 had been registered against him by the second respondent for the offences under Section Section 189(2) and 293 of the BNS. He has not received any summons from the Court. According to the petitioner, the charges levelled against him are not grave offences and the impugned show cause notice is non-speaking, arbitrary and violative of the principles of natural justice.

3. A status report has been filed by the learned counsel for the 2^nd respondent- Police stating that a charge sheet has been filed against the petitioner in Crime No.524/2024 before the learned Judicial Magistrate Court No.II, Cuddalore and the same was taken on file in S.T.C.No.2561 of 2025, on 16.09.2025. The case is now posted on 23.03.2026 for the appearance of the petitioner.

4. Heard the rival submissions of the counsels and this Court also perused the records.

5. The reason for not issuing the passport is attributed to the pendency of the criminal proceedings pending against the petitioner before the Judicial Magistrate No.II, Virudhuchalam. In a recent judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Mahesh Kumar Agarwal Vs Union of India and another arising out of SLP(C) No.17769 of 2025, the Hon’ble Supreme Court was considering a similar case of passport which was not being granted on account of the fact that the appellant therein was an accused in a case being investigated by NIA. The learned Judges after taking into consideration the statutory provisions and notifications relating to the issue on hand and after extracting the Passport Act and Rules of the G.O., has observed as follows :

“8. From a conjoint reading of Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Passports Act, a structured scheme emerges. Section 5 is the starting point. It prescribes the manner in which an application for a passport is to be made and requires the passport authority, subject to