A Single Judge Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, has in the case of Nagalingam v. The Regional Passport Officer & Ors. observed that FIR will not be construed as Criminal Proceedings until the final report was submitted and the petitioner’s fresh representation for issuance of a passport should be considered by the Respondent.
“There shall be a direction to the respondents to process the application submitted by the petitioner and issue passport, if the petitioner has satisfied all the other requirements.”
Background of the Case
In this case, the Petitioner named Nagalingam applied for a passport. The Passport authorities verified all the documents and found that an FIR was filed against the Petitioner and denied issuing the passport to him. Aggrieved by this, the petitioner approached this Court.
Therefore, this Writ Petition was filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus to direct the respondents to issue a passport to the petitioner based.
Reasoning and Decision of the Court
The Court looked into the materials of the facts and heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents. Perusing all the facts, the Court held that the FIR was registered against the Petitioner as he was not wearing a mask while driving a two-wheeler in the pandemic and “the very registration of an FIR cannot be construed to be criminal proceedings, unless it translates itself into a final report and the same is taken cognizance by a competent Court.”
The Court ordered the petitioner also to make fresh representation before the Respondent with the copy of this Order. Therefore, the Court disposed of the petition without imposing any cost on it and directed the Respondent to process the application within four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
Case Details
Case: - W.P.(MD) No.8875 of 2021
Petitioner: - Nagalingam
Respondent: - The Regional Passport Officer & Ors.
Counsel for Petitioner: - Mr.T.Balaji
Counsel for Respondent: - Mr.V.B.Sundareshwar
Judge: Justice N. Anand Venkatesh
Read Order@LatestLaws.com
Share this Document :
Picture Source : https://miro.medium.com/max/700/1*smR6Qt26fhiJQB5LRfkWPw.jpeg
