The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the Thiruvananthapuram passport officer to file an affidavit regarding the reason for denial of a new passport to the Kasargod sub-judge.
Justice P R Ramachandra Menon issued the order on a petition by Thiruvananthapuram-native Prabhathu Kumar, sub-judge of Kasargod, seeking a directive to the Thiruvananthapuram passport officer to consider his application for a new passport. He also challenged the decision by the passport officer who rejected the request for a passport.
The petitioner contended that he had applied online for a passport and had mentioned Thiruvananthapuram as his permanent address.
He had also submitted a no-objection certificate issued by the Registrar (Subordinate Judiciary) of the Kerala High Court.
However, the Thiruvananthapuram passport office refused to process the application stating that he was working in Kasargod.
The office also refused to refund the fee remitted by the petitioner, who argued that there was no need to show his temporary address, which often would be the quarters allotted to him by the state government, and that getting the passport in that address is likely to cause hardships in future.
The court asked the passport officer to explain why the amount remitted by the petitioner was not refunded. It also pointed out that no specific rule/circular/guideline was brought to the notice of the court as to what the term ‘ordinary residence’ means.