Passport Of Person Facing Criminal Proceedings To Be Renewed For Minimum 10 Yrs If No Restriction Imposed By Courts: Telangana HC

The Telangana High Court has reiterated that passport renewal cannot be rejected on the ground that there are pending criminal proceedings against the applicant.

While doing so, Justice Surepalli Nanda further clarified, that in case the applicant (for passport renewal) was directed to secure a No Objection Certificate (NOC) as per the Central Gazette Notification of 1993 from a Magistrate and the Magistrate issued the NOC without stipulating the duration of renewal, the same is to be done as per the Passport Act and Rules but in no circumstance below 10 years.

"Taking into consideration the law laid down by the Apex Court and the other High Courts in the various Judgments (referred to and extracted above) and pass appropriate orders, in accordance to law, within a period of three (03) weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of the order, on petitioner's application dated 25.01.2024, for issuance of passport... for a period of ten years, under Section 10 of the Passports Act, 1967 and under Rule 12 of Passport Rules, 1980, without reference to the Criminal Proceedings pending against the petitioner in C.C.No.472 of 2017.. and also the Gazette Notification issued by the Central Government vide GSR No.570(E) dated 25.08.1913"

In the case at hand, the petitioner had filed a Writ Petition challenging the order passed by the Regional Passport Officer by way of which, the application of the petitioner for renewal of passport was rejected on the ground that there were pending criminal proceedings against him. The petitioner was directed to secure a No Objection Certificate from the Magistrate permitting the renewal.

In 1993, a Gazette Notification was issued by the Central Government. As per the notification, the passports of person's against whom criminal cases are pending shall be renewed only after an NOC was issued by the Magistrate. The Notification further stated that, when no time is prescribed by the Magistrate the passport is to be renewed only for a period of 1 year.

While reiterating that the renewal of passport cannot be stopped on the ground that there are pending criminal cases against the applicant, Justice Surepalli Nanda relying upon the Narendra K. Ambwani v. Union judgment further clarified that in case a NOC is sought for, and the Magistrate allows the application without stipulating a specific time, the Passport Authorities are bound to renew the passport for a period of 10 or 20 years and prescribed by the Passport Act and Rules but in no circumstance below 10 years.

Thus the petition was allowed directed the petitioner to (i) submit an application before the trial court undertaking not to leave the country without the prior permission of the Court (ii) directed the court to issue certified copy of the same (iii) directed the petitioner to submit application along with certified copy (iv) submit renewed passport before Court upon renewal.

The petitioner was permitted to seek permission and travel abroad.

WP 2802 of 2024

Counsel for petitioner: S. Nagesh Reddy assisted by Mohd. Nazeeruddin Khan

Counsel for respondents: A.S. Vasudevan

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