CHENNAI : The rejection of DMK party treasurer Durai Murugan’s plea for re-issuance of passport is improper, his counsel Richard Wilson told the Madras High Court on Tuesday.Durai Murugan was issued a passport in October, 2013, valid up to October, 2023. However, the passport booklet was fully used by him for his frequent travels.
Hence, he applied for re-issuance of another passport, due to exhaustion of pages on November 9 last. However, the passport officer returned his application. He used to travel across the world to participate in various cultural, social and political programmes. Hence, he filed the present petition.
When the matter came up on Tuesday, Richard told Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana that the reason cited for returning the application was the pendancy of a criminal case against Durai Murugan. However, he was discharged from that criminal case.
Only a revision petition is pending. The petitioner had disclosed it in his application. No other case is pending in any criminal court against him. The case is not pending before the criminal court and therefore, section 6 (2) of the Indian Passport Act would not be applicable, Richard added. The judge reserved her orders.