John Prabakar v. The Regional Passport Officer
Crl.M.P.No.13402 of 2023 in Crl.O.P.No.24216 of 2018 Dr.G.JAYACHANDRAN, J.
Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner. 2.
The petitioner is an accused in C.C.No.2 of 2013, pending on the file of the Special Court for CBI Cases, Coimbatore. In this petition, the petitioner seeks the indulgence of this Court to direct the Regional Passport Officer to renew his passport for 10 years instead of 2 years in piecemeal, as it has been done in the earlier occasion due to pendency of the criminal prosecution. 3.
According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the daughter of the petitioner is living in USA and the business interest is in Poland. Since his passport is not renewed for 10 years period as in normal course, his business activity and meeting of his family members is curtailed. The extension of passport for a shorter period i.e., 2 years is substantially restrained his right to go abroad and therefore, seeks for modifying the earlier order of this Court dated 27.09.2022,
which has directed the Passport Authority to renew his passport for a period of 2 years. The sum and substance of the request of the petitioner is that on expiry of his passport at the end of November 2024, the renewal must be for the whole 10 years period and not for a restricted period. 4.
The learned Special Public Prosecutor (CBI) for the respondent opposed the said application on the ground that the stage is set for framing of charges, soon the trial will commence on framing of charges. 5.
A schedule for examination of witnesses has also been furnished by the learned Special Public Prosecutor (CBI). The perusal of schedule indicates that the prosecution is likely to marshal the witnesses on 04.11.2023 and will complete the examination of 86 witnesses by 27.06.2024. 6.
The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner states that one of the accused has approached this Court to quash the case against him and therefore, framing of charge is getting delayed.
7.
Taking note of the above submission made by the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Special Public Prosecutor (CBI), this Court dispose of this petition with the following directions: (i) The trial Court shall frame the charge forthwith, if there is no other legal impediment. After framing of charge, examination of witnesses shall commence as per the schedule furnished by the learned Special Public Prosecutor (CBI), which reads as below:
Sh.K.Mohanraj 04/11/2023 Smt.Kamalavalli 15/11/2023 Sh U.Manikandan 23/11/2023 Sh P.Kumar 29/11/2023 Sh M.Karunakaran Sh.K.Kathiravan 02/12/2023 Sh S.R.D.Kanagaraj Sh S.Jayaraman 07/12/2023 Sh Selvasingh Sh Prashant U.Pawar 14/12/2023 Smt R.Nirmala Sh A.Thirumurthy Sh Angusamy 21/12/2023 Sh M.K.Subramanian
Sh Ramamurthy 28/12/2023 Sh Meena Shanthakumari Sh Sampath Kumar Sh K.Radhakrishnan 04/01/2023 Sh A.Arun Smt B.Bala Naga Devi 11/01/2024 Sh N.Kannan 18/01/2024 Sh T.Jayachandran Smt S.Shanthi 25/01/2024 Sh S.Nizamuddin Sh S.Sundara Pandian Sh E.Shanmugaiah 01/02/2024 Sh R.Mutharasu 07/02/2024 Sh S.Mariyamuthu Sh Vivekanandan Sh Elamurugan 15/02/2023 Sh R.Vinothkrishnan Sh S.Tagore 22/02/2024 Sh S.Murugan Sh Poovendhan 29/02/2023 Sh P.Mohanraj Sh R.Dhanarasu 07/03/2024 Sh Muralitharan Sh K.Selvaraj Sh T.Saravanan 14/03/2024 Sh M.Nadaraj Sh P.Gopalan
Sh R.Muthukrishan Sh M.Muthukrishnan Sh A.Perumalsamy 21/03/2024 Sh K.M.Raju Sh A.Ramu Sh K.Sabarinathan Sh S. Sambath Sh P.Manoharan 28/03/2024 Sh S.Sankar Sh P.M.Chandrasekar Sh Pulugandi @ Sathyaseelan Sh M.Rajaram 04/04/2024 Sh L.Muthukumar Sh M.Sanjay Sh K.S.Suresh Babu 11/04/2024 Sh K.Manian Sh K.B.Vellaichamy 18/04/2024 Sh Vijayaraj 25/04/2024 Sh Selvaraj 30/04/2024 Sh Soundararajan Sh Umarani Ms.Jamuan Rani Sh M.Sudhir 02/05/2024 Sh Dayanidhi Sh C.S.Vaidyanathan Sh Ramesh Sh Wajid Hussain
Smt Selvi Priyaka Sh Srikant Kalingarajan 09/05/2024 Sh Andrew Selvaraj Ms.Radha Sh K.Magendhran Sh R.Raghupathy Sh T.S.Giridharan Sh A.Charles 16/05/2024 Sh R.Ravi Sh Pradeep Sh Thangamani Sh Duraiswamy 23/05/2024 Sh R.Lakshminarayanan @ Ramesh 30/05/2024 Sh N.R.Sadasivam 06/06/2024 Sh C.Raja 13/06/2024 Sh Nageswaran The Nodal Officers 87 to 92 20/06/2024 Sh S.B.Sankar 27/06/2024 8.
Since it is proposed to complete the trial by the month of June 2024 and the passport of the petitioner expires only in the month of November 2024, this Court is of the view that the request made by the petitioner herein for renewing of his passport for full term of tenure shall be considered at the later
point of time, in case, if there is any delay in completing the trial as proposed by the schedule mentioned above.
04.09.2023 rpl
Dr.G.JAYACHANDRAN, J.
rpl Crl.M.P.No.13402 of 2023 in Crl.O.P.No.24216 of 2018 04.09.2023