Allahabad High Court
Rakesh vs Union Of India And 4 Others on 7 February, 2023
Bench: Mahesh Chandra Tripathi, Vivek Kumar Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 40
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 34889 of 2022
Petitioner :- Rakesh
Respondent :- Union Of India And 4 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Atmaram Nadiwal,Dinesh Kumar Yadav
Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,C.S.C.,Jai Krishna Narain Sharma
Hon'ble Mahesh Chandra Tripathi,J.
Hon'ble Vivek Kumar Singh,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel. Shri Jai Krishna Narain Sharma appears for Union of India.
Present writ petition has been preferred for a direction to respondent nos.3 and 4 to submit actual detailed police report with regard to the petitioner in respect of any criminal case and for a further direction to respondent no.1 to consider the claim of the petitioner with regard to passport and visa.
On the matter being taken up today, learned counsel for Union of India has placed the instructions dated 25.11.2022 sent by the Senior Superintendent for Regional Passport Officer, Lucknow, wherein it is disclosed that the petitioner applied for Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) vide application file no.LK1086739758222 dated 20.4.2022. Consequently, the requisite informations were forwarded to the Superintendent of Police, Maharajganj for according police verification on 20.4.2022. The department has received adverse police verification report on 7.5.2022 with a remark "NCR 110/19 Us-323, 504 IPC registered not recommended for PCC facilities". The passport facilities were denied by the police authorities. A show cause notice no.SCN/320087630/22 dated 1.6.2022 was issued to the petitioner to submit his clarification regarding pending court matter through post. The informant was also given through registered mobile number and e-mail ID. It is submitted by the department that the show cause notice response is still awaited and the passport application is under process for want of compliance. It is also specifically submitted that the petitioner has suppressed the material information by hiding pending court matters in his passport application.
Learned counsel for the Union of India, in this backdrop, has submitted that once show cause notice has been issued to the petitioner, without responding the same, the petitioner has directly approached this Court and as such no indulgence is required in the matter. He further submits that in case the petitioner inclines to submit the objection, then definitely the said objection would be considered strictly as per the Passport Act and Passport Rules.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has stated that lodging of NCR would not affect the right of the petitioner for getting the clearance from the police department. Learned counsel for the petitioner, in support of his submissions, has placed reliance on the judgment dated 16.12.2022 in Writ-C No.29605 of 2022 (Basoo Yadav v. Union of India & Ors.).
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, we are not inclined, at this stage, to make any further observation in the matter as the rights of the petitioner is to be considered strictly as per the objection/ representation made by the petitioner pursuant to the show cause notice. Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the issue, it is provided that in case the petitioner files objection within week's time as per the procedure prescribed for issuance of passport, we hope and trust that the competent authority would consider the said objection and take a final call in the matter strictly in accordance with law in further two months.
The writ petition stands disposed of accordingly.
Order Date :- 7.2.2023
SP/
