Mere registration of an FIR or pendency of investigation by the Investigating Agency is no ground to refuse issue or renewal of passport.
The brief facts of case are that that even after the lapse of substantial time, there was no intimation from respondent No.2 in respect of status of the Petitioners request for renewal/re-issue of the passport. The petitioner was, however, informed that his police verification was awaited. With a view to know the reasons for delay in issuance of renewal/re-issue of the passport, the petitioner moved an application under Right to Information Act for seeking information in respect of the latest status of his passport file submitted on 20th December, 2021. In response to the Right to Information application filed by the petitioner, the respondents intimated to the petitioner that the delay was due to non-receipt of police verification report. It was, however, on 13.04.2022, the petitioner received a message from the passport office that the police had submitted an adverse report against him. The adverse police report was, however, not shared with the petitioner. The petitioner filed another application under Right to Information Act on 18th April, 2022, which was replied by the Public Information Officer of the respondents on 13th May, 2022 by serving a copy of the communicated dated 21.04.2022 intimating to the petitioner that the passport office had received a report from the police, which indicates that FIR No.3/2019 is registered against him, as such, the petitioner is required to furnish No Objection Certificate from the Hon‟ble Court. The petitioner submits that since there was no criminal proceeding pending in any Court, therefore, he could not submit No Objection Certificate from the Court. This made the respondent to close the case of the petitioner for renewal/re-issue of the passport, which fact was intimated to the petitioner by the Passport office through a text message dated 2nd June, 2022, which came to be assailed by the Petitioner in the Present Petition.
The impugned notice was assailed and the writ of mandamus prayed for in the petition is claimed primarily on the ground that under the Passport Act, 1967 [“ the Passport Act”] and the Rules framed thereunder, there is no provision for asking the applicant for passport to submit „No Objection Certificate‟ from the Court when there are no criminal
proceedings pending against him in any competent Court of law. It is submitted that mere registration of FIR and initiation of investigation by the police authorities is no ground to reject the request for grant or renewal of the passport. Reliance in this regard is placed by the petitioner on Section 6 of the Passport Act to argue that the passport authority can refuse to issue passport or travel documents for visiting any foreign country only on the grounds mentioned in Clause (a) to (i) of Sub Section 2 of Section 6 of the Passport Act. Clause (f) only provides for refusing the issue of passport on the ground that proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by the applicant are pending before a criminal Court in India.
In Para 10 of the Judgment the Hon'ble court held that Mere registration of an FIR or pendency of investigation by the Investigating Agency is no ground to refuse issue or renewal of passport requested by the applicant. At this stage, when FIR alone is registered and investigation is undertaken by the Investigating Agency, there are no proceedings before a criminal Court. The criminal proceedings commence before the competent Court of criminal jurisdiction only when a final report is laid by the investigating agency before the Court or in case of a private complaint, when the criminal Court of competent jurisdiction takes cognizance and proceeds in the manner provided under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Till such eventuality happens, we cannot say that there are criminal proceedings pending in the Court. If that be the clear and unequivocal position emerging from the scheme of Code of Criminal Procedure, there is not even an iota of doubt that registration of FIR and the investigation taken thereupon by the investigating agency cannot be said to be the proceedings pending before a criminal Court in India to attract disqualification laid down in Clause (f) of Sub Section (2) of Section 6 of the Passport Act.
Rajesh Gupta vs Union of India (WP (C) NO. 1534/2022)
Pronounced on: 23.11.2022 by Justice Sanjeev Kumar
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