CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has temporarily stayed the show-cause notice issued by the Indian Embassy in Washington DC in the US to a techie to surrender his passport over alleged illegality in possessing an Indian passport though he was born in Sri Lanka.
Justice Mohammed Shaffiq passed the interim orders recently directing the Indian Embassy in the US to keep in abeyance until the next hearing (two weeks) the June 18, 2026, notice issued to the petitioner, Vivek Saravananamuthu.
The judge posted the matter to July 22 for further hearing.
The petitioner was born in Sri Lanka but was brought up in Tamil Nadu since his parents left the island nation due to the civil war. He had completed an engineering degree and obtained an Indian passport. Later, he moved to the US and is currently employed in a software company. He is also having a Green Card.
He applied for passport renewal in February this year and had submitted his birth certificate received from the competent authorities in Sri Lanka. Thereafter, the passport was renewed.
However, the Indian Embassy in Washington sent him the impugned notice directing him to surrender the passport.
Challenging the impugned notice, the petitioner sought direction to the respondent authorities, including the Ministry of External Affairs, to maintain the valid passport status intact, and afford a period of nine months to enable him to regularise his status and obtain formal travel documents from the Sri Lankan authorities so that his Indian passport can be surrendered.
His counsel submitted that if the passport is submitted within 10 days as directed by the Embassy, it would result in invalidation of his US work visa, disrupt his career and possibly render him “stateless”.
