RENEWAL PASSPORT CANNOT BE REFUSED MERELY ON THE GROUND OF PENDENCY OF CRIMINAL APPEAL - SC

The Top Court recently held that renewal passports could not be refused merely on the ground of pendency of Criminal appeal. The Court held this while hearing an interlocutory application by the applicant who was convicted u/s Sections 120-B,420, 468, 471, 477 A of the Indian Penal Code and section 13 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The applicant filed an appeal before the High Court, where the HC dismissed the appeal but reduced his sentence to a period of one year. Thereafter, he filed an appeal before the Top Court. And hence, a criminal appeal is pending of the applicant.

In the current case, the applicant filed an application before the passport authority seeking renewal of his passport, which expired on 12.11.2017. The passport authority denied renewing his passport on the ground of pending criminal appeal.

He filed an interlocutory application before the Apex court, seeking no objection to his passport renewal by the CBI. The CBI rejected the plea and argued that the renewal can be considered only after the applicant obtains permission from the trial court. The CBI also referred to Section 6.2 of the Passport Act, 1967, which states that the Passport authority can refuse to renew a passport in view of the pendency of a criminal appeal.

The bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai observed, "The Passport authority can refuse to renew passports only in cases where the applicant is convicted during the period of 5 years immediately preceding the date of application for an offence involving moral depravity and sentenced for imprisonment for not less than two years. At present, the conviction of the applicant stands still at the disposal of the appeal, and the sentence he has to undergo for his crimes is for a period of 1 year. The passport authority cannot refuse the renewal of the passport on such grounds''.

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Author: Papiha Ghoshal