CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered the regional passport officer (RPO) in Chennai to process the application of A G Perarivalan, one of the convicts in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, within four weeks.
Justice P T Asha issued the direction on a petition filed by Perarivalan, who was released by the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the authorities for issuing passport since his application has been kept pending from 2024.
The judge said the reluctance of the RPO to process the application, on the sole ground of awaiting police verification report, is incorrect, considering the fact that the petitioner has been set at liberty by the SC.
Citing the SC judgment in Jawahar Rajan case, the judge said the SC had made it clear that the pendency of a criminal case would not be an absolute bar to the issuance of a passport.
Justice Asha directed the RPO to consider the counter-affidavit filed by Jolarpet police.