Samseer Bappikkantakath vs Regional Passport Officer
2024 Latest Caselaw 12032 Ker

Citation : 2024 Latest Caselaw 12032 Ker
Judgement Date : 10 May, 2024

Kerala High Court

Samseer Bappikkantakath vs Regional Passport Officer on 10 May, 2024

Author: Murali Purushothaman

Bench: Murali Purushothaman

              IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
                              PRESENT
          THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE MURALI PURUSHOTHAMAN
      FRIDAY, THE 10TH DAY OF MAY 2024 / 20TH VAISAKHA, 1946
                      WP(C) NO. 16979 OF 2024
PETITIONER:

          SAMSEER BAPPIKKANTAKATH, AGED 34 YEARS,
          KANNUKARATHI HOUSE, VAYAKKARA P.O,
          PADIYOTTUCHAL VIA, PAYYANNUR,
          KANNUR DIST, PIN - 670353.

          BY ADV PRAVEEN K. JOY


RESPONDENT:

          REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICER,
          REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE,
          KOZHIKODE, ERANHIPALAM POST,
          KOZHIKODE, PIN - 673006.

          BY ADV KRISHNA T C, SENIOR PANEL COUNSEL


     THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
10.05.2024, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
 WP(C) NO. 16979 OF 2024
                            -2-

                          JUDGMENT

The petitioner is the holder of an Indian passport

bearing No.W4352922. The passport of the petitioner was

damaged, and he submitted an application for re-issuance

of the same under the Tatkal Scheme. It is submitted that

a criminal case is pending against him before the Judicial

First Class Magistrate Court Payyanur, Kannur District, as

C.C.No.1129/2016 under Sections 279, 338, and 304 (A)

of the IPC.

2. The respondent issued Ext.P2

communication informing the petitioner that there is

an adverse Police Report and the petitioner can apply

for re-issuance of the passport after the disposal of

the case pending before the Magistrate Court.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner refers

to notification GSR 570 (E), which is extracted below:

"In exercise of the powers conferred by clause

(a) of Section 22 of the Passports Act 1967 (15 of WP(C) NO. 16979 OF 2024

1967) and in supersession of the notification of the

Government of India in the Ministry of External Affairs

No.GSR 298(E), dated the 14 th of April, 1976, the Central

Government, being of the opinion that it is necessary in

public interest to do so, hereby exempts citizens of India

against whom proceedings in respect of an offence

alleged to have been committed by them are pending

before a criminal court in India and who produce orders

from the court concerned permitting them to depart from

India, from the operation of the provisions of Clause (f) of

sub-section (2) of Section 6 of the said Act, subject to the

following conditions, namely- a.) the passport to be

issued to every such citizen shall be issued:-

i. for the period specified in order of the court

referred to above, if the court specifies a period

for which the passport has to be issued: or

ii. if no period either for the issue of the passport

or for the travel abroad is specified in such

order, the passport shall be issued for a period of

one year:

iii. if such order gives permission to travel

abroad for a period less than one year, but does WP(C) NO. 16979 OF 2024

not specify the period validity of the passport,

the passport shall be issued for one year; or

iv. if such order gives permission to travel abroad

for a period exceeding one year, and does not

specify the validity of the passport, then the

passport shall be issued for the period of travel

abroad specified in the order.

b) any passport issued in terms of (a) (ii) and (a) (iii)

above can be further renewed for one year at a time,

provided the applicant has not traveled abroad for the

period sanctioned by the court; and provided further that,

in the meantime, the order of the court is not cancelled or

modified;

c) any passport issued in terms of (a) (i) above can be

further renewed only on the basis of a fresh court order

specifying a further period of validity of the passport or

specifying a period for travel abroad:

d) the said citizen shall give an undertaking in writing

to the passport issuing authority that he shall, if required

by the court concerned, appear before it at any time

during the continuance in force of the passport so issued."

WP(C) NO. 16979 OF 2024

4. Though the criminal case is pending before the

Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, it will be open to the

petitioner to approach the said Court and obtain

necessary permission for travelling abroad. The

observation in Ext.P2 shall not stand in the way of the

petitioner approaching the competent jurisdictional

Magistrate Court and obtaining the necessary permission

to travel abroad.

With the aforesaid observations, this writ petition

is disposed of.

Sd/-