Jinal D/O. Nishith Dalal vs The State Of Maharshtra And Anr
2021 Latest Caselaw 2231 Bom

                                 1/3            3. wpl.174.2021.doc


            IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION

                    WRIT PETITION NO. 174 OF 2021
                  [WRIT PETITION (L) NO. 8814 OF 2020]

Jindal D/o. Nishith Dalal                              ... Petitioner
           Vs.
The State of Maharashtra & Anr.                         ... Respondents
                              ...........
Ms. Khevana Dagli for the Petitioner.
Mr. Amogh Singh a/w. Mr. Akash Kishorkumar Kotecha for the
Respondent No. 2-UOI.
Mr. Manish Upadhye, AGP with Mrs. Uma Palsuledesai, AGP for the
Respondent/State.
                                  ..........
                      CORAM: A. A. SAYED AND
                             MADHAV J. JAMDAR, JJ.

DATE : 3rd FEBRUARY, 2021.

P. C:-

1. The Petition is filed by the Petitioner seeking the following

reliefs-

"a) that this Hon'ble Court be pleased to pass appropriate writ, order and direction directing the Respondent No.2 to forthwith renew the passport of the Petitioner bearing No. U7654922 for a period of 10 years and/or for such period and on such condition as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper."

2. The Petitioner has completed her MBA and is desirous of

pursuing her Ph.D. in USA. She was issued a passport on 17 th June,

2011. The Petitioner is an accused in Criminal Case No.

Sonali

2/3 3. wpl.174.2021.doc

540/PW/2019. She had approached the office of Respondent No. 2

situated at Andheri for the purpose of renewal of her passport.

However, she was asked to obtain permission from the Court.

Accordingly, the Petitioner approached the Metropolitan Magistrate

and made an Application wherein an order came to be passed to

renew her passport as per applicable Passport Rules. Pursuant to the

said order, the Petitioner's passport has been renewed only for a

period of one year. It is the grievance of the Petition that her

passport ought to have been renewed for a period of 10 years.

3. The learned Counsel for the Petitioner has pointed out the

order dated 7th August, 2020 passed by the Division Bench of this

Court in Roshan Lawrence Menezes Vs. Union of India & Ors. (Writ

Petition (L) No. 699 of 2020) wherein the Division Bench, following

the order dated 13th March, 2014 of this Court in Narendra K.

Ambwani Vs. Union of India (Writ Petition No. 361 of 2014) and

order dated 30th November, 2016 of this Court in Samip Nitin

Ranjani Vs. Union of India (Writ Petition No. 12784 of 2016) has

held as follows:-

"In the present case, as we have noted above, in accordance with the law stated by our court and the directions/guidelines issued by it in the cases referred to above, the Magistrate has allowed issuance of passport in accordance with the Rules and

Sonali

3/3 3. wpl.174.2021.doc

whenever the Magistrate does refer to issuance or renewal of a passport in accordance with the Rules, his order does take within its sweep Rule 12 of the Passports Rules, 1980 and thereby, the prescription of minimum period of 10 years contained in it. Mr.Bhate's submission that the judgment of Delhi High Court in Prashant Bhushan's case was not cited before our Division Bench is neither here nor there. The judgment essentially proceeds on the footing that wherever there is no period mentioned in the order of the Magistrate for issuance/renewal of passport, it would be the default period under the notification. In our case, as per the law stated above, there is indeed a period mentioned in the Magistrate's order by way of reference to the Rules under the Passports Act, namely, Passports Rules, 1980, which contain Rule 12. As mentioned above, reference to Rule 12 takes within its fold the reference to the minimum period of 10 years for which the passport would have to be issued or renewed."

4. The issue raised by the Petitioner in the Petition is squarely

covered by the aforesaid order of the Division Bench in Roshan

Lawrence Menezes Vs. Union of India & Ors. Hence, the Petition is

allowed in terms of prayer clause (a).

5. The Respondent No.2 shall renew the passport bearing No.

U7654922 of the Petitioner for a period of 10 years within a period

of 14 days from the date of placing of this order before him. The

Petition is allowed in the aforesaid terms.

(MADHAV J. JAMDAR, J.)                             (A. A. SAYED, J.)


Sonali