[Cites 11, Cited by 0]
Madras High Court
Tamilselvi vs The Regional Passport Officer on 10 March, 2026
W.P.(MD)No.4718 of 2026
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
DATED: 10.03.2026
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE HEMANT CHANDANGOUDAR
W.P.(MD)No.4718 of 2026
and
W.M.P.(MD)No.3950 of 2026
Tamilselvi ... Petitioner
vs.
1.The Regional Passport Officer,
Regional Passport Office,
Bharathi Ula Veethi,
Race Course Road, Madurai District.
2.The Consulate General of India,
Office of the Consulate General of India at Dubai,
Dubai.
3.The Superintendent of Police,
Office of the Superintendent of Police,
Sivagangai District.
4.The Deputy Superintendent of Police,
Melur, Madurai.
5.The Inspector of Police,
Keelavalavu Police Station,
Madurai District. ... Respondents
1/10
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W.P.(MD)No.4718 of 2026
PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of
India for issuance of Writ of Mandamus, to direct the 1st respondent
herein to consider the renewal of petitioner’s son’s passport application
in Application Reference No.24-2004848494 dated 16.10.2024 and to re-
issue the petitioner’s son’s passport within the stipulated time by this
Court.
For Petitioner :Mr.S.Moorthy
For R1 :Ms.T.Saroja
Central Government Standing Counsel
For R3 to R5 :Mr.M.Vaikkam Karunanithi
Government Advocate (Crl.side)
*****
ORDER
1. The petitioner is before this Court seeking issuance of a Writ of
Mandamus directing the first respondent to renew the passport of her son
in Application Reference No. 24-2004848494 dated 16.10.2024.
2. The application submitted for renewal of the petitioner’s son’s
passport has not been processed on the ground that seven criminal cases
are pending against him. The petitioner submits that in four of the said
criminal cases, the respective trial Courts have granted permission to the
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petitioner’s son to renew his passport. However, in the remaining three
criminal cases, the trial Courts have not acceded to the request of the
petitioner’s son on the ground that he must be physically present before
the Court. The petitioner further submits that her son is presently residing
in Dubai and, since the validity of his passport and visa has expired, he is
unable to travel to India either for renewal of the passport or to appear
before the trial Courts.
3. This Court had occasion to consider a similar issue in W.P.(MD) No.
7056 of 2017 in N. Chandrababu vs. The Sub Inspector of Police and
another, wherein it was held as follows:
“3)..... At this juncture, it may be relevant to discuss
the legal position with regard to the right of a
person facing criminal prosecution to demand
issuance of passport. To decide this issue, it may be
necessary to extract the following legal provisions
from the Passports Act, 1967.
'Section 5(2) of the Passports Act, 1967 On
receipt of an application under this section, the
passport authority, after making such inquiry, if
any, as it may consider necessary, shall, subject to
the other provisions of this Act, by order in
writing,-
(a) issue the passport or travel document
with endorsement, or,as the case may be, make on
the passport or travel document the endorsement,
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in respect of the foreign countries specified in the
application; or
(b) issue the passport or travel document
with endorsement, or,as the case may be, make on
the passport or travel document the endorsement,
in respect of one or more of the foreign countries
specified in the application and refuse to make an
endorsement in respect of the other country or
countries ; or
(c) refuse to issue the passport or travel
document or, as the case may be, refuse to make on
the passport or travel document any endorsement.
Section 6(2) of the Passports Act, 1967. 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 subsection (2) of section 5 on any one
or more of the following grounds, an on no other
ground,
(a) that the applicant is not a citizen of
India;
(b) that the applicant may, or is likely to,
engage outside India in activities prejudicial to the
sovereignty and integrity of India;
(c) that the departure of the applicant from
India may, or is likely to, be detrimental to the
security of India;
(d) that the presence of the applicant outside
India may, or is likely to, prejudice the friendly
relations of India with any foreign country;
(e) that the applicant has, at an time during
the period of five years immediately preceding the
date of his application, been convicted by a Court
in India for any offence involving moral turpitude
and sentenced in respect thereof to imprisonment
for not less than two years;
(f) that proceedings in respect of an offence
alleged to have been committed by the applicant
are pending before a Criminal Court in India;
(g) that a warrant or summons for the
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appearance, or a warrant for the arrest, of the
applicant has been issued by a Court under any law
for the time being in force or that an order
prohibiting the departure from India of the
applicant has been made by any such Court;
(h) that the applicant has been repatriated
and has not reimbursed the expenditure incurred in
connection with such repatriation;
(i) that in the opinion of the Central
Government the issue of a passport or travel
document to the applicant will not be in the public
interest.
4) For deciding the issue at hand, Section
6(2) (f) will be relevant. A reading of the said
provisions shows that the power of the Passport
Authority to refuse issuance of passport under
Section 5(2)(c) is governed by Section 6(2). Thus,
for any of the reasons given in Clause (a) to (i) of
Section 6(2), the Passport Authorities can refuse to
issue a passport in exercise of power under Section
5(2)(c). The Parliament, in its wisdom, has
conferred the aforesaid power, which is
administrative in nature, on the Passport Authority.
The Central Government has issued the following
Notification dated 25.08.1993, for regulating the
exercise of power by the Passport Authority under
Section 6(2 (f):
“In exercise of the powers conferred by
clause (a) of Section 22 of the Passports Act 1967
(15 of 1967) and in supersession of the notification
of the Government of India in the Ministry of
External Affairs No.G.S.R.298(E), dated the 14th
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
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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
one year
(iii) if such order gives permission to travel
abroad for a period less than one year, but does 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
travelled 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.
5. From a reading of the aforesaid
Notification, in the opinion of this Court, the
expression 'concerned Court' will meanthe Court
before whom the person is facing the prosecution.
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In this case, had there not been a quash petition
pending, the 'concerned Court' would be the
learned Judicial Magistrate No.V, Trichy before
whom the petitioner is facing trial in C.C.No.21 of
2015. However, this Court, in exercise of its power
under Section 482 of Cr.P.C., has admitted Crl.O.P.
(MD)No.3533 of 2017 and has granted stay of all
further proceedings in C.C.No. 21 of 2015 on the
file of Judicial Magistrate No.V, Trichy. Under such
circumstances, the expression 'concerned Court' in
the context of the present case will mean the High
Court and not the Judicial Magistrate No.V,
Trichy.”
4. The Coordinate Bench of this Court in W. P. (MD) No.22222 of 2022 in the case of
S.Muniasamy vs.- the Union of India and others, following the aforesaid
pronouncement of this Court, had issued the following directions:-
(a) The petitioner is directed to make a
representation to the Consulate General of India,
Indian Embassy at Abudapy along with a copy of
this order;
(b) Immediately on receipt of such
representation, the Passport of the petitioner shall
be re-issued/renewed for a period of two years;
(c) On such re-issuance/renewal, the
petitioner shall come over to India and take
immediate steps to participate in the criminal
proceedings and work out his remedy and defend
himself in the case;
(d) The petitioner shall also file a memo
before the concerned Court, where the criminal
case is pending and bring to the notice of the said
Court, the orders passed in this writ petition; and
(e) If in case the criminal case does not
come to an end within the period for which the
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passport has been re-issued/renewed, the petitioner
shall get the necessary permission only from the
concerned Court in line with the notification issued
by the Government of India through the Ministry of
External Affairs in G.S.R.298(E) dated
14.04.1976.”
5. Following the same, this Writ Petition is disposed of with the
following directions:
“(a) The petitioner’s son is directed to make a representation to the
Consulate General of India, Indian Embassy at Dubai along with a copy
of this order;
(b) Immediately on receipt of such representation, the Passport of
the petitioner’s son shall be re-issued/renewed for a period of two years;
(c) On such re-issuance/renewal, the petitioner’s son shall come
over to India and take immediate steps to participate in the criminal
proceedings and work out his remedy and defend himself in the case;
(d) The petitioner’s son shall also file a memo before the
concerned Court, where the criminal case is pending and bring to the
notice of the said Court, the orders passed in this writ petition; and
(e) If in case the criminal case does not come to an end within the
period for which the passport has been re-issued/renewed, the petitioner
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shall get the necessary permission only from the concerned Court in line
with the notification issued by the Government of India through the
Ministry of External Affairs in G.S.R.298(E) dated 14.04.1976.
6. No costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petition is closed.
Index :Yes / No 10.03.2026
Internet :Yes / No
NCC :Yes / No
Note : Issue order copy by 11.03.2026.
cmr
To
1.The Superintendent of Police,
Office of the Superintendent of Police,
Sivagangai District.
2.The Deputy Superintendent of Police,
Melur, Madurai.
3.The Inspector of Police,
Keelavalavu Police Station,
Madurai District.
HEMANT CHANDANGOUDAR, J.
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cmr
10.03.2026
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