Ganesan v. The Regional Passport Officer
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED: 11.09.2023
CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE B.PUGALENDHI Ganesan ... Petitioner Vs 1.The Regional Passport Officer, Regional Passport Office, New Municipal Complex, Thillai Nagar, 7th Cross Street, Tiruchirappalli - 620 018.
2.The Inspector of Police, Ammapettai Police Station, Thanjavur District.
... Respondents PRAYER: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India forbearing the 1st respondent not to impound the petitioner's passport in passport No.W6688936 based on the petitioner's representation dated 19.04.2023. For petitioner : Mr.Ramesh Kumar.D For Respondent : Mr.T.Tirupathy No. 1 Central Govt.Standing Counsel For Respondent : Mr.P.Kottaichamy No.2 Government Advocate (Crl Side) 1/7
ORDER
The petitioner has been issued with passport in Passport No.W6688936. The grievance of the petitioner is that the 1st respondent is attempting to impound the passport citing the pendency of the criminal case registered against this petitioner.
2.The learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has been called for to offer his explanation with regard to the criminal case registered against him and he has also offered his explanation. However, the respondents are taking steps to impound the petitioner's passport. Hence this writ petition is filed. 3.The learned Counsel for the 1st respondent submits that a case in Crime No.215 of 2021 is pending as against the petitioner on the file of the 2nd respondent Police.
4.Pendency of an FIR, by itself, cannot be a ground to refuse the passport. The Passport Authority can refuse the passport and any travel documents under Section 6 of the Passport Act, 1967. Section 6(2)(F) of the Act would be relevant and the same is extracted as under:- 2/7
"6.Refusal of passports, travel documents, etc- ...
(2)Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the passport authority shall refuse to issue a passport or travel document for visiting any foreign country under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 5 on any one or more of the following grounds, and on no other ground, namely - ...
(f) that proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by the applicant are pending before a Criminal Court in India."
5.The above provision enables the Passport Authority to refuse the passport or travel document to an applicant on the ground that proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by the applicant is pending before a Criminal Court. Registration of an FIR on the police files, based on a complaint, cannot be construed as a proceedings pending before the Criminal Court. 6.The role of the Court pending the investigation has been discussed by various Courts. In W.Jaihar William v. State of Tamil Nadu [2014 (2) CWC 684], this Court has held as follows:- 3/7
"8. ... It is well settled legal principle that mere pendency of FIR cannot be construed as pendency of criminal proceedings in respect of the offences alleged to have been committed by the applicant before the Criminal Court. Only after the Court takes cognizance of the offence alleged to have been committed by the applicant, as stipulated under Section 190 of Cr.PC., it can be construed as 'proceedings pending before the Court'"
7.A Division Bench of this Court in Arumugam v. Regional Passport Officer, Madurai [W.A(MD)No.301 of 2018, dated 27.03.2018], has held as follows:- "8. ... mere pendency of the criminal proceedings cannot be construed as pendency of the criminal proceedings. The decisions relied on for reaching the said conclusion in the above cited decision, would also disclose that unless cognizance is taken by the concerned Magistrate, it does not amount to pendency of the criminal proceedings. Admittedly, in the case on hand, the case is in FIR stage and even for the sake of arguments, subsequently, the charge sheet has been filed, as on the date of submission of the application for passport, only FIR is pending and it cannot be construed as pendency of a criminal case and it cannot be said that the petitioner has suppressed the material fact of pendency of the criminal case."
4/7
8.In fact, the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, has issued a Circular dated 10.10.2019, wherein, the following instruction was issued:- "5. In view of the above, the following instructions may be adopted while processing the passport applications in respect of those applicants who may have criminal proceedings pending before a criminal court in India:
...
(vi) ... It may be noted that mere filing of FIRs and cases under investigation do not come under the purview of Section 6(2) (f) and that criminal proceedings would only be considered pending against an applicant if a case has been registered before any Court of law and the court has taken cognizance of the same." 9.Ordinarily, the duration of a passport as per Rule 12 of the Passport Rules is for a period of 10 years. In the event if the applicant is facing any criminal proceedings, the passport may be issued by restricting the period. 10.In a similar circumstance, this court in Suriya Prakash Vs. The Regional Passport Officer, Madurai and Ors, reported in MANU/TN/1394/2017 considering the settled legal position has allowed the writ petition, which was filed challenging the order of impounding the passport and the 5/7
relevant portion is extracted hereunder:
" In view of the above circumstances, the Writ Petition is allowed and the impugned order, dated 8.6.2016 passed in Reference No. IMP/304107309/16 stands quashed and the first respondent is consequently directed to return the Petitioner's passport bearing Registration No. M8653181, immediately. Consequently, connected Miscellaneous Petitions are closed. No costs."
10.Accordingly, this writ petition is allowed. No costs. 11.09.2023 dsk To 1.The Regional Passport Officer, Regional Passport Office, New Municipal Complex, Thillai Nagar, 7th Cross Street, Tiruchirappalli - 620 018.
2.The Inspector of Police, Ammapettai Police Station, Thanjavur District.
6/7
B.PUGALENDHI, J.
dsk 11.09.2023 7/7