CUTTACK: In a significant ruling, the Orissa High Court has opined that there is no absolute bar in the Passport Act on issuing or renewal of passport on the ground of pendency of a criminal case.
The single judge bench of Justice Sashikanta Mishra, accordingly, quashed the order in which the passport officer (Bhubaneswar) had impounded the passport of one Ashok Kumar Sipani invoking Section 10(3)(e) of the Act for pending criminal case.
While considering the petition filed by Sipani, Justice Mishra said, “The provision under Section-10(3) is not mandatory, but discretionary. So, if the provisions of the Act are read as a whole, it would imply that mere pendency of criminal case cannot, in all cases, lead to impounding of the passport.”
“For the foregoing reasons therefore, this court is of the considered view that the impugned order cannot be sustained in the eye of law,” Justice Mishra added. Sipani had sought the court’s intervention stating that he had already been chargesheeted in the case and was out on bail.
“It is trite law that when discretionary power is vested on a quasi judicial authority, it is absolutely necessary that proper reasons are to be cited by it, while determining or adjudicating any matter. Tested in the backdrop of the above requirement, the impugned order falls short by a long margin,” Justice Mishra observed and directed the passport officer to restore the passport in favour of the petitioner within two weeks.