Ponnaiyan Kittathal Velusamy v. The Chief Passport Officer
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 01.09.2025 CORAM :
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M. DHANDAPANI Ponnaiyan Kittathal Velusamy ... Petitioner Vs.
1.The Chief Passport Officer, Office of the Chief Passport Officer, Chennai. 2.The Regional Passport Officer, Regional Passport office Coimbatore, 1st Floor, Corporation Commercial Complex, Avinashi Road, Coimbatore.
3.The Inspector of Police, Chennimalai Police Station, Erode District.
... Respondents Prayer : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for records pertaining to the order dated 11.07.2025 in File No.CB1065109386525 passed by the respondent No.2 herein and to quash the same and consequently direct the respondent No.2 to issue passport to the petitioner within a time frame fixed by this Court.
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For Petitioners : Mr.B.M.Subash For Respondents : Mr.V.Babu Central Government Standing Counsel [R1 & R2] Mr.S.Balaji Government Advocate (Crl.Side) [R3] *****
ORDER
This Writ Petition has been filed by the petitioner seeking for a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, to call for the records pertaining to the order dated 11.07.2025 in File No.CB1065109386525 passed by the 2nd respondent and to quash the same and consequently, direct the 2nd respondent to issue passport to the petitioner within a time frame fixed by this Court.
2. Mr.V.Babu, learned Central Government Standing Counsel, accepts notice on behalf of the respondents 1 and 2 and Mr.S.Balaji, learned Government Advocate (Crl.Side), accepts notice on behalf of the 3rd respondent. In view of the consent expressed by the parties, this writ petition is taken up for final disposal at the stage of admission itself.
3. The case of the petitioner is that, he submitted an application to obtain passport through online. After processing the application, the 2nd Page No.2 of 6
respondent issued a show cause notice dated 11.06.2025 calling for explanation for pending criminal cases against him. In response to the same, he has given a detailed reply dated 30.06.2025 informing the status of pending criminal cases against him. While this being the case, without considering the petitioner's reply, the 2nd respondent has passed the impugne order dated 11.07.2025. Challenging the same, the petitioner has filed this writ petition.
4. Though very many grounds have been raised in this writ petition, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that, as against the order passed by the 2nd respondent, there is an effective appeal available before the Joint Secretary (PSP) & CPO, Ministry of External Affairs, Patiala House, Tilak Marg, New Delhi - 110 001. Hence, he prays that this Court may grant the above liberty to the petitioner.
5. In view of the above submissions made by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, this Court, without interfering with the impugned order, grants liberty to the petitioner to prefer an appeal before the appellate authority in the manner known to law, if the limitation period has not expired.
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6. With the above liberty, this Writ Petition is disposed of. No costs. 01.09.2025 Index : Yes / No Speaking order / Non-speaking order sp Page No.4 of 6
To 1.The Chief Passport Officer, Office of the Chief Passport Officer, Chennai. 2.The Regional Passport Officer, Regional Passport office Coimbatore, 1st Floor, Corporation Commercial Complex, Avinashi Road, Coimbatore.
3.The Inspector of Police, Chennimalai Police Station, Erode District.
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M.DHANDAPANI, J.
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