IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD THE HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI APARESH KUMAR SINGH AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.M.MOHIUDDIN WRIT APPEAL No.194 of 2026 Dated: 17.02.2026 Between:

Sri Balvinder Singh …Appellant and The Union of India, Represented by its Principal Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Patiala House, Tilak Marg, New Delhi – 110 001, and 2 others.

…Respondents JUDGMENT:

Learned Senior Counsel Sri Prabhakar Sripada, representing learned counsel Sri Setty Ravi Teja, appears for the appellant.

Sri B.Narasimha Sharma, learned Additional Solicitor General of India, representing Sri N.Bhujanga Rao, learned Deputy Solicitor General of India, appears for the respondents.

2. The instant appeal is preferred against the judgment dated 05.02.2026 passed by the learned writ court in W.P.No.37054 of 2025 filed by the appellant.

3. The appellant’s prayer to set aside the order dated 18.11.2025 dismissing his appeal under Section 11 of the Passports Act, 1967 (hereinafter referred to as, “the Act”), and confirming the order of respondent No.3 dated 11.08.2025 rejecting his request for renewal of passport for ten years, has been dismissed vide the impugned judgment of the learned writ court.

4. In order to deal with the issue at hand, the relevant chronology of dates are only being referred to for brevity. The appellant is facing criminal cases, such as i) R.C.No.1 of 2019 before the learned Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Bank Securities and Fraud Cell (BS&FC) in Bengaluru and ii) he is facing the prosecution under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), being S.C.No.264 of 2022, pending before the learned Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Hyderabad. On expiry of his passport on 25.08.2023, subject to the conditions prescribed by the learned writ court in W.P.No.30664 of 2023, a fresh passport valid up to 08.01.2025 was issued on 09.01.2024. The passport of the appellant was renewed again on 01.03.2025, which is going to expire on 28.02.2026. His request for renewal of the passport for ten years made on 18.07.2025 was rejected by the Regional Passport Officer, Hyderabad, on 11.08.2025 relying upon Section 6(2)(f) of the Act and GSR 570(E), dated 25.08.1993. The appeal filed by the appellant was also dismissed on 18.11.2025. The writ petition was preferred assailing the aforesaid two orders.

5. The writ petition was dismissed relying upon Section 6(2)(f) of the Act and the guidelines issued in GSR 570(E), dated 25.08.1993. The learned writ court also went on to observe that the appellant has not arrayed his creditors as respondents to the writ petition, who are the number of banking institutions, including the prosecuting agency, as his travel to abroad may have an impact on his creditors. The orders impugned in the writ petition were upheld in the light of Section 6(2)(f)

of the Act and GSR 570(E), dated 25.08.1993.

6. Learned Senior Counsel for the appellant has questioned the said decision on a number of grounds. He has placed reliance upon the recent decision of the Apex Court in the case of Mahesh Kumar Agarwal v. Union of India, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 2887 (SLP (Civil) No.17769 of 2025, dated 19.12.2025). It is contended that the learned writ court, despite citing

the aforesaid decision, failed to take into consideration the ratio rendered therein. The appellant’s passport is going to expire on 28.02.2026. He has obtained the permission to travel abroad from the learned Sessions Judge, Hyderabad, in the Sessions Case No.264 of 2022 of Enforcement Directorate, Hyderabad, vide order dated 09.01.2026. This permission is impliedly No Objection Certificate (NOC) for renewal of passport as well. Therefore, the impugned judgment may be set aside and the passport authorities may be directed to renew the appellant’s passport for a period of ten years, otherwise his right to travel abroad would be unreasonably restricted.

7. Learned Additional Solicitor General of India appearing for the respondents has