Passport May Be Issued For One Year At A Time Where No Specific Period Is Stated In Order Of Competent Court: Allahabad High Court Explains MEA Notification

The High Court was considering a Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution by the petitioner seeking a direction commanding the respondent Regional Passport Officer, District Bareilly to re-issue passport to the petitioner for a period of ten years pursuant to the No Objection Certificate (NOC) issued by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Pilibhit as the passport was issued earlier to the petitioner for a period of one year.

Referring to a Notification dated August 25, 1993 issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, the Division Bench of Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi stated, “A plain reading of the above notification unequivocally leads to an inference that in cases where a citizen is permitted by the competent court to be issued with a passport, the duration of such passport shall be determined in accordance with the directions provided in that order of court and if the court order specifies a period for an applicant to travel abroad for which the passport is to be issued, the same shall be issued for that specified duration. However, in case no such period is indicated in the order then the passport to be issued shall be valid for a period of one year only. In instances where the court permits travel abroad for a period less than one year but does not provide any specific duration for the validity period of the passport, then also the passport shall be issued for one year.”

“We reiterate that, where no specific period is stated in the order of the competent court, the passport may be issued for one year at a time and the said period can be extended by way of renewal as per law if the application is made before the authorities, provided that the applicant has not yet travelled abroad during the court-sanctioned period and that the court's order has not been modified or revoked in the meantime”, it added.

Advocate Gulabul Hasan represented the Petitioner, while Additional Solicitor General of India represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The petitioner had earlier approached the High Court seeking a direction to the respondents to issue a passport in his favour, as the matter remained pending before the passport office for one criminal case, arising out of an FIR registered under Section 447 IPC and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, being pending against him. In compliance with the order of the Division Bench, the petitioner applied for a No Objection/sanction/approval, which was granted to him by the Chief Judicial Magistrate and consequently,a passport was issued to the petitioner, to be valid for one year i.e. from January 20, 2025 to January 19, 2026.

Reasoning

The Bench observed that the Passport Act, 1967, foresees situations and circumstances where the authority concerned can enquire, and based on that authority can accept or reject the application for a passport made by any person for the conditions prescribed under the Act. Reference was made to Section 6(2)(f) which makes it more specific that if proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by an applicant are pending before a criminal law court in India, it can be one of the reasons for refusal of a passport. The Act also provides a provision for issuance of a passport for a shorter period of time in certain situations, although the word ‘shall’ used in Section 6 (2) of the Act, 1967, indicates its binding nature of the provision and does not leave any room for exercising discretion by the passport authority, the Bench noted.

Referring to the 1993 Notification issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, the Bench mentioned that in the instances where the court permits travel abroad for a period less than one year but does not provide any specific duration for the validity period of the passport, then also the passport shall be issued for one year. Although, if the order allows travel abroad for a period exceeding one year without specifying the validity of the passport, the passport shall be issued for the duration of the travel period as mentioned in that order.

The Bench held, “ From the above it becomes absolutely explicit that applicant seeking passport if faces a criminal case, he/she shall have to obtain permission of concerned criminal law court in the first instance to travel abroad. The law further provides that in the event applicant makes such an application stating the period for which he wants passport to be issued, the court shall pass appropriate order disposing of the same finally by both sanctioning foreign country travel and duration for which foreign country travel is being permitted and for issuance of passport accordingly.”

Coming to the case at hand, the Bench held that clause (a)(ii) of the 1993 Notification, as amended/modified on October 10, 2019, was attracted to the facts of the case. “Hence, we hold that the passport-issuing authority was well within its power to grant passport having validity of one year only and the petitioner cannot demand a passport or its renewal for ten years as a matter of right”, it added.

Finding no justification to issue further direction at this stage to extend period of passport beyond Janaury 19, 2026, the Bench held, “...liberty rests with the petitioner as above and in the event petitioner approaches the authority concerned for extension of the validity of his passport just before its expiry by following due procedure prescribed in law, the respondent no.2 shall consider the application as per the provisions of the Passport Act, 1967 as well as the Passport Rules, 1980 and notifications issued by Government of India through Ministry of External Affairs from time to time and in the light of law as discussed above.”

Considering that the Court is flooded with petition seeking direction to Passport Office to dispose of their pending application for either issuance of a fresh passport or re-issuance (renewal) of passport, the Bench ordered, “...the concerned Regional Passport Officer in all circumstances where passport cannot be issued must inform the applicant regarding it within a month of submission of passport application and as soon as proper noobjection/sanction/approval is obtained and submitted, should dispose of passport application finally within a further period of a month. The police in cases of application submitted for passport must submit its report within four weeks without undue delay.”

Cause Title: Rahimuddin v. Union Of India (Neutral Citation: 2025:AHC:181505-DB)

Appearance:

Petitioner: Advocates Gulabul Hasan, Pradeep Kumar Aditya, Rajesh Kumar Verma

Respondent: A.S.G.I., Arvind Nath Agrawal

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