The Regional Passport Officer has given a clean chit to Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister A Jayapal, stating that he did not suppress material information relating to any case in the passport application for obtaining passport as there has been no proceedings against him pending before a criminal court.
Regional Passport Officer C Senthil Pandian submitted before the first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice M M Sundaresh that the minister was implicated in a criminal case but there has been no charges till date neither any arrest warrant or summons pending against him.
In a counter affidavit filed against a petition directing the regional passport officer to initiate legal action against the state fisheries minister for the act of suppression of facts and obtaining passport by furnishing false certificate and false address, Pandian said the petitioner, after a showcause notice issued to him, stated that he has been implicated in a criminal case on the file of Nagapattinam Town Police Station and reported there has been no charges framed against him till date.