Naresh vs Union Of India And Ors on 20 April, 2026

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    Punjab-Haryana High Court

    Naresh vs Union Of India And Ors on 20 April, 2026

                               CWP-17945-2025 (O&M)                                                      -1-
    
                                      IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
                                                     CHANDIGARH
                               220                           CWP-17945-2025 (O&M)
                                                             Date of decision: 20.04.2026
    
                               Naresh
                                                                                                  ....Petitioner
                                                                Vs.
                               Union of India and others
                                                                                               ....Respondents
                               CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARSH BUNGER
                               Present:     Mr. Deepak Jaglan, Advocate
                                            for the petitioner.
    
                                            Ms. Monica Chawla, Advocate
                                            for respondents No.1 and 2/UOI.
    
                                            Mr. Abhimanyu Antil, DAG, Haryana.
                                                                *****
    

    HARSH BUNGER J.

    1 Petition herein is, filed under Articles 226/227 of the

    SPONSORED

    Constitution of India, inter alia, seeking a writ in the nature of Mandamus,

    for directing the respondents authorities to issue passport to the petitioner.

    2. Briefly, the petitioner applied for passport vide application

    dated 14.03.2024, however, an adverse police verification report was

    submitted in respect of the petitioner, stating that a criminal case bearing FIR

    No.116 dated 13.05.2021 under Sections 279 and 304-A IPC was registered

    against the petitioner at Police Station Rajaund, Kaithal.

    3. It appears that the Passport Authorities issued a show cause

    notice dated 27.05.2024 (Annexure P-5) to the petitioner, seeking an

    explanation from him, regarding the circumstances under which he had

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    suppressed the material information; the relevant extract of the show cause

    notice reads as under:-

    “Subject: Clarifications required regarding Issuance of
    Passport facilities to Shri NARESH
    Dear Sir,
    This is in reference to receipt of an adverse Police
    Verification Report corresponding to your application for
    passport issue with file mobile number CH6069579298824
    dated 08/05/2024.

    You are therefore, called upon to provide a suitable
    explanation within 30 days. Please note that you are required to
    furnish a proper explanation regarding the circumstances under
    which you had suppressed the material information in your
    passport application. Please be informed that in case of non
    response within the specified period, or a non-satisfactory
    response, your will be rejected under section 6 (2) of the
    Passport Act, 1967 unless cleared in appeal by the PSP
    Division.

    You could choose to submit the required documents to the
    Enquiry Officer at the Regional Passport Office between. 9:30
    AM to 12:30 PM only or all working days (Except Wednesday,
    Friday)”

    4. It is stated that the petitioner responded to the aforesaid show

    cause notice by submitting his reply dated 08.06.2024 (Annexure P-6),

    wherein it was clearly mentioned that no material information had been

    suppressed by the petitioner in his passport application, as the factum of FIR

    No. 116 dated 13.05.2021 was duly mentioned in the application for

    issuance of passport; accordingly, prayer was made for issuance of passport.

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    5. It transpires that the Passport Authorities vide subsequent letter

    dated 17.01.2025 (Annexure P-8), called upon the petitioner to submit the

    permission to depart from India from the concerned Trial Court as per the

    provisions of G.S.R. 570(E) dated 25.08.1993, within a period of 30 days,

    failing which the passport was to be denied to the petitioner.

    6. In the aforementioned circumstances, the petitioner approached

    this Court by filing a writ petition (CWP-15871-2024), which came to be

    withdrawn by the petitioner with liberty to approach the learned trial Court,

    so as to seek permission to depart from India in terms of Government

    Instructions issued vide G.S.R. 570(E) dated 25.08.1993.

    7. Thereafter, the petitioner is stated to have submitted an

    application before concerned trial Court seeking permission to travel abroad,

    however, the said application came to be dismissed by learned Judicial

    Magistrate 1st Class, Kaithal, vide order dated 20.05.2025 (Annexure P-11).

    8. In the aforementioned circumstances, the present writ petition

    has been filed before this Court, for seeking relief(s) as noticed hereinabove.

    9. Learned counsel for the petitioner, inter alia, contends that the

    order dated 20.05.2025 (Annexure P-11) is arbitrary, contrary to law and

    violative of petitioner’s fundamental right to travel. It is submitted that, there

    is no concealment/suppression on the part of the petitioner as the factum of

    pending FIR was duly mentioned in the application for seeking passport. It is

    contended that a person can seek permission to go abroad or depart from

    India only by giving details of his passport, visa, travel itinerary; which the

    petitioner would be unable to provide at this stage since there is no passport

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    with the petitioner. Accordingly, it is submitted that the Passport Authorities

    have erred in fact and law in refusing the facility of passport to the

    petitioner.

    10. On the other hand, learned counsel appearing for the

    respondents No.1 and 2 has opposed the submissions raised on behalf of the

    petitioner by submitting that Section 6(2)(f) of the Passport Act, 1967 (in

    short ‘1967 Act), empowers the passport authorities to refuse issuance of

    passport or travel documents to a person against whom criminal proceedings

    are pending before a Court in India. A reference is made to Government

    Instructions/Notification G.S.R. 570(E), which provides an exemption from

    the operation of Section 6(2)(f) in cases where the individual obtains a Court

    order permitting departure from India. It is further submitted that in terms of

    the aforesaid Government notification, the petitioner must firstly obtain

    explicit permission from the competent Court to travel abroad or depart from

    India, failing which no passport can be issued. Accordingly, it is asserted

    that, since the learned trial Court has not granted permission to the petitioner

    to travel abroad, therefore, the passport to the petitioner has been rightly

    declined.

    11. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the

    paperbook with their able assistance.

    12. The Hon’ble Apex Court in “Maneka Gandhi v. Union of

    India” reported in 1978 (1) SCC 248, held that no person can be deprived

    of his right to go abroad unless there is a law enabling the State to do so and

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    such law contains fair, reasonable and just procedure. Hon’ble the Apex

    Court made the following observations:

    “Thus, no person can be deprived of his right to, go abroad
    unless there is a law made by the State prescribing the
    procedure for so depriving him and the deprivation is effected
    strictly in accordance with such procedure. It was for this
    reason, in order to comply with the requirement of Article 21,
    that Parliament enacted the Passports Act, 1967 for
    regulating the right to go abroad. It is clear from the
    provisions of the Passports, Act, 1967 that is lays down the
    circumstances under which a passport may be issued or
    refused or cancelled or impounded and also prescribes a
    procedure for doing so, but the question is whether that is
    sufficient compliance with Article 21. Is the prescription of
    some sort of procedure enough or must the procedure comply
    with any particular requirements? Obviously, procedure
    cannot be arbitrary, unfair or unreasonable. This indeed was
    conceded by the learned Attorney General who with his usual
    candour frankly stated that it was not possible for him to
    contend that any procedure howsoever arbitrary, oppressive
    or unjust may be prescribed by the law …”

    12.1 In “Satish Chandra Verma v. Union of India (UOI) and

    others“, 2019 SCC Online (SC) 2048; the Hon’ble Apex Court observed as
    under:

    “The right to travel abroad is an important basic human
    right for it nourishes independent and self-determining creative
    character of the individual, not only by extending his freedoms
    of action, but also by extending the scope of his experience.
    The right also extends to private life; marriage, family and
    friendship which are the basic humanities which can be

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    affected through refusal of freedom to go abroad and this
    freedom is a genuine human right.”

    12.2 Hon’ble Apex Court in “Sumit Mehta v. State of NCT of

    Delhi“, 2013 (15) SCC 570, observed as under:

    “The law presumes an accused to be innocent till his
    guilt is proved. As a presumable innocent person, he is entitled
    to all the fundamental rights including the right to liberty
    guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”

    12.3 The Hon’ble Supreme Court in “Vangala Kasturi

    Rangacharyulu v. Central Bureau of Investigation“, 2020 Crl. L J. (SC)

    572; had an occasion to examine the issue of pendency of criminal cases in

    the light of the provisions of the Passports Act, 1967. The petitioner therein

    was convicted in a case for the offences under Sections 420 IPC and also

    Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act,

    1988, against which, an appeal was filed and the same was dismissed,

    however the sentence was reduced to a period of one (01) year. The

    petitioner therein approached the Apex Court by way of filing an appeal and

    the same was pending. In those circumstances, Hon’ble Apex court held that

    refusal of a passport can be only in case where an applicant is convicted

    during the period of five (05) years immediately preceding the date of

    application for an offence involving moral turpitude and sentence for

    imprisonment was not less than two years. It was observed that Section 6(2)

    (f) of 1967 Act relates to a situation where the applicant is facing trial in a

    criminal Court. Therefore, considering the said facts, the Apex Court held

    that Passport Authority cannot refuse renewal of the passport on the ground

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    of pendency of the criminal appeal. Thus, the Hon’ble Apex Court directed

    the Passport Authority to issue the passport of the applicant without raising

    the objection relating to the pendency of the aforesaid criminal appeal in

    Supreme Court.

    12.4 In “Wassan Singh Versus Union of India”, 2023 (3) RCR (C)

    786, a coordinate bench of this Court has also held that mere pendency of

    FIR itself is no ground for refusal or non issuance of passport to the

    applicant. The relevant extracts thereof reads as under :-

    “A perusal of section 6 of the Passports Act would show that
    mere pendency of an FIR itself is no ground for refusal or non-
    issuance of passport to the applicant. This Court had also
    occasioned to deal with an identical issue in the case of Daler
    Singh v. Union of India and others
    (Supra) and Sahib Jaskaran
    Singh v. Union of India and others(Supra). So far as allegation
    of suppression of facts pertaining to FIRs at the time of
    application filed by the petitioner is concerned, Section 6 does
    not lay down any ground that on the basis of suppression of
    pendency of an FIR, a passport can be refused.
    So far as
    suppression in case of impounding is concerned, Section 10
    deals with the same but a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in
    Sukhdeep Singh v. Union of India and another(Supra) also dealt
    with this issue that even in that case as well, the suppression of
    FIR itself cannot become a ground for impounding of the
    passport. However, the present case does not pertain to
    impounding of the passport but it pertains to grant/issue of
    passport and therefore, the case of the petitioner is governed by
    section 6 of the Passports Act.”

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                                CWP-17945-2025 (O&M)                                                   -8-
    
                               12.5        In "Ganni Bhaskara Rao v. Union of India", 2022 AIR
    
    

    (Andhra Pradesh); Hon’ble Andhra Pradesh High Court observed as under:-

    “5. This Court also holds that merely because a person is an
    accused in a case it cannot be said that he cannot “hold” or
    possess a passport. As per our jurisprudence every person is
    presumed innocent unless he is proven guilty. Therefore, the
    mere fact that a criminal case is pending against the person is
    not a ground to conclude that he cannot possess or hold a
    passport. Even under section 10 (d) of the Passports Act, the
    passport can be impounded only if the holder has been
    convicted of an offence involving “moral turpitude” to
    imprisonment of not less than two years. The use of the
    conjunction ‘and’ makes it clear that both the ingredients must
    be present. Every conviction is not a ground to impound the
    passport. If this is the situation post-conviction, in the opinion
    of this Court, the pendency of a case / cases is not a ground to
    refuse, renewal or to demand the surrender of a passport…”

    13. Recently, Hon’ble Supreme Court in case of Mahesh Kumar

    Aggarwal versus Union of India & Another, SLP(C) No. 17769 of 2025

    (Decided on 19.12.2025); while dealing with a matter concerning issuance /

    renewal of passport to a person involved in various criminal matters

    (wherein he was also convicted in one matter); observed as under:-

    “8. From a conjoint reading of Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the
    Passports Act, a structured scheme emerges. Section 5 is the
    starting point. It prescribes the manner in which an application
    for a passport is to be made and requires the passport
    authority, subject to the other provisions of the Act, to decide
    the application by issuing or refusing the passport through a
    written order. Section 6 qualifies that power and sets out, in an

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    exhaustive manner, the grounds on which the passport
    authority shall refuse to issue a passport or travel document.
    Sub-section (1) deals with refusal of endorsements for
    particular countries. Sub-section (2) governs refusal of issue
    itself and again begins with the words “subject to the other
    provisions of this Act”. It obliges the authority to refuse issue
    where any of the situations in clauses (a) to (i) are present,
    including the pendency of criminal proceedings before a court
    in India under clause (f). Section 7 then addresses the duration
    of a passport. It provides that a passport shall continue in force
    for such period as may be prescribed, but also permits the
    authority, for reasons to be communicated in writing to the
    applicant, to issue a passport for a shorter period in an
    appropriate case. Section 8 deals with the converse situation
    where a passport has already been issued for a shorter period.
    It permits extension of such a passport, but expressly states that
    the provisions of the Act shall apply to such extension as they
    apply to the issue of the passport, thereby linking an extension
    back to the same statutory conditions and limitations that
    govern original issue under Sections 5 and 6.

    9. Sections 9, 10 and 22 reinforce and complete this
    framework. Section 9 enables the Central Government, by
    rules, to prescribe the conditions subject to which and the form
    in which a passport shall be issued or renewed. It also permits,
    with prior approval of the Central Government, the imposition
    of case-specific conditions in addition to the prescribed ones.
    Section 10 operates at a later stage and deals with the life of a
    passport after it has been issued. It empowers the passport
    authority, in defined situations, to require production of the
    passport and to impound or revoke it. One such situation, under
    Section 10(3)(e), is where proceedings in respect of an offence

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    alleged to have been committed by the holder are pending
    before a criminal court in India. Section 22 then confers on the
    Central Government the power, where it considers it necessary
    or expedient in the public interest, to exempt any person or
    class of persons from the operation of specified provisions of
    the Act or the Rules, subject to conditions. It is in exercise of
    this power that GSR 570(E) was issued, creating a controlled
    exemption from the bar in Section 6(2)(f) in favour of persons
    facing criminal proceedings who obtain permission from the
    concerned court and comply with the conditions set out in that
    notification.

    10. On a plain reading, GSR 570(E) does two things. First, it
    recognises that persons facing criminal proceedings are not to
    be treated as absolutely disentitled to a passport. Instead, it
    permits such persons to obtain a passport, notwithstanding
    Section 6(2)(f), where the concerned criminal court has applied
    its mind and passed an order in relation to issuance or use of
    the passport and where the applicant furnishes an undertaking
    to appear before the court as and when required. Secondly, it
    structures the exercise of that exemption by tying the validity
    and use of the passport to the terms of the court’s order. Thus,
    where the court specifies a period for which the passport is to
    be issued, the passport authority must honour that period.
    Where the court does not stipulate any period, the notification
    provides default rules, including issuance for a shorter period,
    ordinarily one year, in appropriate cases. What the notification
    does not do is to create a new substantive bar beyond Section
    6(2)(f)
    , or to insist that the criminal court must, in every case,
    grant a prior blanket permission to “depart from India” for
    specified dates as a jurisdictional precondition to the very issue
    or re-issue of a passport.

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    11. The OM dated 10.10.2019 does not create a new regime.
    It reiterates that GSR 570(E) must be “strictly applied”,
    explains the procedure where criminal cases are pending and
    makes it clear that a “no objection certificate” or permission
    from the criminal court, read with the applicant’s undertaking,
    may override an adverse police report with reasons recorded
    by the Passport Officer. It also contemplates situations where
    more than one court is dealing with the matter and indicates
    that the orders of all such courts are to be read together. The
    OM is thus an administrative restatement of the position under
    Section 6(2)(f), Section 22 and GSR 570(E), and cannot add to
    or cut down the exemption which the notification itself grants.

    xxx xxx xxx

    13. The Calcutta High Court has treated Section 6(2)(f) as
    an unyielding bar so long as any criminal proceeding is
    pending, unless the criminal court simultaneously authorises a
    specific foreign trip for a defined period. That reading unduly
    narrows the effect of GSR 570(E). Nothing in the Passports Act
    requires the criminal court to convert every permission into a
    one-time licence to undertake a particular journey. The statute
    equally permits the court to allow renewal of the passport while
    retaining complete control over each instance of foreign travel
    by insisting on its prior leave, as both courts have done in the
    present case.

    xxx xxx xxx

    15. The reasoning of the learned Single Judge proceeds on
    the basis that, once Section 6(2)(f) is attracted, renewal of a
    passport is virtually ruled out unless the criminal court, at the
    same time, permits a particular foreign trip for a specified
    duration. With respect, this approach overlooks two features of
    the statutory scheme. First, Section 6(2)(f) is a ground for

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    refusal at the stage of issue or re-issue, but it is expressly made
    subject to “the other provisions” of the Act, which include
    Section 22 and the exemption carved out through GSR 570(E).
    Second, GSR 570(E) does not compel the criminal court to
    authorise a particular journey. It proceeds on the broader
    premise that where the criminal court permits the applicant to
    depart from India and the period of validity can be anchored
    either in the court’s order or in the default periods mentioned
    in the notification, the embargo in Section 6(2)(f) stands lifted
    to that extent. In the present case, both criminal courts have
    adopted a different but equally legitimate method of control by
    allowing renewal while reserving to themselves the power to
    regulate each instance of foreign travel. That method satisfies
    the statutory concern of securing the accused’s presence as
    effectively as, if not more effectively than, a one-time
    permission for a single trip.

    16. The respondents and the Calcutta High Court have also
    treated the expression “permission to depart from India” in
    GSR 570(E) as if it necessarily refers only to a concrete
    permission for an immediately proposed journey. We do not
    read the notification in so narrow a manner. Where, as here,
    the conditions of bail already stipulate that the appellant shall
    not leave the country without prior permission of the court
    concerned, and the same court then grants no objection to
    renewal of the passport without relaxing that condition, the
    requirement that departure from India shall be subject to
    judicial permission is built into the very terms of the exemption.
    The passport authority is not required, at the renewal stage, to
    demand a schedule of future journeys or visas which may not
    yet exist. Its task is to see whether, despite pending
    proceedings, the criminal courts have chosen to keep the

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    possibility of travel open under their supervision. Once that
    position is clear, GSR 570(E) applies and the bar under Section
    6(2)(f)
    cannot be invoked to refuse renewal altogether.

    xxx xxx xxx

    20. It must also be noted that denial of renewal of a passport
    does not operate in a vacuum. This Court has repeatedly held in
    a catena of judgements that the right to travel abroad and the
    right to hold a passport are facets of the right to personal
    liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Any
    restriction on that right must be fair, just and reasonable, and
    must bear a rational nexus with a legitimate purpose.

    21. The legitimate purpose behind Section 6(2)(f) and
    Section 10(3)(e) is to ensure that a person facing criminal
    proceedings remains amenable to the jurisdiction of the
    criminal court. That purpose is fully served in the present case
    by the conditions imposed by the NIA Court, Ranchi, and the
    Delhi High Court, which require the appellant to seek prior
    permission before any foreign travel and, in the NIA case, to re-
    deposit the passport immediately after renewal. To add to these
    safeguards an indefinite denial of even a renewed passport,
    when both criminal courts have consciously permitted renewal,
    would be a disproportionate and unreasonable restriction on
    the appellant’s liberty.

    22. It is important to keep distinct the possession of a valid
    passport and the act of travelling abroad. A passport is a civil
    document that enables its holder to seek a visa and, subject to
    other laws and orders, to cross international borders. Whether
    a person who is on bail or facing trial may actually leave the
    country is a matter for the criminal court, which can grant or
    withhold permission, impose conditions, insist on undertakings,
    or refuse leave altogether. In the present case, both criminal

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    courts have done exactly that. To refuse renewal on the
    speculative apprehension that the appellant might misuse the
    passport is, in effect, to second-guess the criminal courts’
    assessment of risk and to assume for the passport authority a
    supervisory role which the statute does not envisage.

    xxx xxx xxx

    24. Finally, even on the respondents’ own reading of GSR
    570(E), the consequence of an order which does not specify a
    longer period of validity is that the passport should be issued
    for a shorter duration, usually one year, and not that renewal
    must be refused altogether. The learned Single Judge and the
    Division Bench did not examine this aspect, because they
    proceeded on the premise that the appellant stood outside the
    exemption altogether. Once it is recognised that the appellant is
    within the exempted class, the correct question for the passport
    authority is the appropriate period of validity in the facts of the
    case, not whether any renewal is permissible at all. In the
    present matter, given that the Delhi High Court has expressly
    authorised renewal for ten years and the NIA Court has
    imposed stringent conditions including redeposit and prior
    permission for travel, we see no justification to curtail the
    normal period of validity.

    25. In the light of the above discussion, we are unable to
    sustain the approach adopted by the learned Single Judge and
    the Division Bench. Both have treated Section 6(2)(f) as an
    absolute bar so long as any criminal proceeding is pending,
    without giving full effect to the statutory exemption mechanism
    under Section 22 and GSR 570(E), and without adequately
    appreciating that the criminal courts actually dealing with the
    appellant’s cases have consciously permitted renewal while
    retaining stringent control over any foreign travel. They have,

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    in effect, converted a qualified restriction, designed to secure
    the presence of an accused, into a near-permanent disability to
    hold a valid passport, even where the criminal courts
    themselves do not consider such a disability necessary.

    xxx xxx xxx

    27. It is needless to observe that nothing in this judgment
    curtails the powers of the passport authority under Section 10
    of the Passports Act. If any future order of a competent court,
    or any subsequent development, requires impounding or
    revocation of the appellant’s passport, it shall be open to the
    authority to act in accordance with Section 10 and other
    applicable provisions. Equally, if the appellant violates any
    condition imposed by the NIA Court, Ranchi, or the Delhi High
    Court, it will be open to those courts to take such steps,
    including modification of bail and recall of permissions, as may
    be warranted.

    28. In the result, the appeal is allowed…”

    14. From the above-referred judicial pronouncements, the

    following position emerges:-

    (i) The right to travel abroad and the right to hold a passport
    are facets of the right to personal liberty under Article 21 of the
    Constitution of India. Any restriction on that right must be fair,
    just and reasonable, and must bear a rational nexus with a
    legitimate purpose.

    (ii) It is important to keep distinct the possession of a valid
    passport and the act of travelling abroad.

    (iii) A passport is a civil document that enables its holder to
    seek a visa and, subject to other laws and orders, to cross
    international borders.

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    (iv) The legitimate purpose behind Section 6(2)(f) and Section
    10(3)(e)
    of the passport Act, 1967; is to ensure that a person
    facing criminal proceedings remains amenable to the
    jurisdiction of the criminal court.

    (v) An accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty and is
    entitled to all fundamental rights, including personal liberty
    under Article 21.

    (vi) Section 6(2)(f) of the Passport Act, 1967 is a ground for
    refusal at the stage of issue or re-issue, but it is expressly made
    subject to “the other provisions” of the Act, which include
    Section 22 and the exemption carved out through Government
    Notification GSR 570(E).

    (vii) Notification GSR 570(E) recognises that persons facing
    criminal proceedings are not to be treated as absolutely
    disentitled to a passport. Instead, it permits such persons to
    obtain a passport, notwithstanding Section 6(2)(f), where the
    concerned criminal court has applied its mind and passed an
    order in relation to issuance or use of the passport and where
    the applicant furnishes an undertaking to appear before the
    court as and when required.

    (viii) Notification GSR 570(E) structures the exercise of
    exemption by tying the validity and use of the passport to the
    terms of the court’s order. Thus, where the court specifies a
    period for which the passport is to be issued, the passport
    authority must honour that period. Where the court does not
    stipulate any period, the notification provides default rules,
    including issuance for a shorter period, ordinarily one year, in
    appropriate cases.

    (ix) Notification GSR 570(E) does not create a new substantive
    bar beyond Section 6(2)(f), or to insist that the criminal court
    must, in every case, grant a prior blanket permission to “depart

    ANKIT
    2026.05.01 17:42
    I attest to the accuracy and
    integrity of this document
    High Court, Chandigarh
    CWP-17945-2025 (O&M) -17-

    from India” for specified dates as a jurisdictional precondition
    to the very issue or re-issue of a passport.

    (x) Notification GSR 570(E) does not compel the criminal court
    to authorise a particular journey. It proceeds on the broader
    premise that where the criminal court permits the applicant to
    depart from India and the period of validity can be anchored
    either in the court’s order or in the default periods mentioned
    in the notification, the embargo in Section 6(2)(f) stands lifted
    to that extent.

    (xi) The passport authority is not required, at the renewal stage,
    to demand a schedule of future journeys or visas which may not
    yet exist. Its task is to see whether, despite pending
    proceedings, the criminal courts have chosen to keep the
    possibility of travel open under their supervision. Once that
    position is clear, GSR 570(E) applies and the bar under Section
    6(2)(f)
    cannot be invoked to refuse renewal altogether.

    (xii) To refuse renewal on the speculative apprehension that the
    appellant might misuse the passport is, in effect, to second-
    guess the criminal courts’ assessment of risk and to assume for
    the passport authority a supervisory role which the statute does
    not envisage.

    (xiii) Once the competent criminal court, being fully conscious
    of the pending proceedings, grants permission or records a “No
    Objection” for renewal of a passport subject to appropriate
    conditions, the passport authority is bound to give effect to such
    order and cannot sit in appeal over, or second-guess, the
    satisfaction recorded by the said court.

    15. Keeping in view the above, I find substance in the contention

    raised on behalf of the petitioner that a person can approach trial Court to

    ANKIT
    2026.05.01 17:42
    I attest to the accuracy and
    integrity of this document
    High Court, Chandigarh
    CWP-17945-2025 (O&M) -18-

    seek permission to go abroad or depart from India, only by giving details of

    his passport, visa, travel itinerary, etc.

    16. In view of the above discussion, I am of the considered view

    that the purpose and intent for which the Notification (GSR 570(E) dated

    25.08.1993) has been issued can be well served and protected by issuing

    necessary directions in this matter. Accordingly, the impugned order dated

    20.05.2025 (Annexure P-11) is set aside and the instant writ petition is

    disposed of with the following directions :-

    i) The petitioner herein shall submit an undertaking along with
    an affidavit before the trial Court concerned in the case
    wherein petitioner is facing trial, stating that he will not leave
    India during pendency of the said case without permission of
    the Court and that he will co-operate with trial Court in
    concluding the proceedings in the said case.

    ii) On filing such an undertaking as well as affidavit, the trial
    Court shall issue a certified copy of the same within two (02)
    weeks therefrom;

    iii) The petitioner herein shall submit certified copy of aforesaid
    undertaking before the Respondent No.2- Regional Passport
    Office for seeking renewal of his passport;

    iv) The Respondent No.2- Regional Passport Office shall
    consider the application of the petitioner for renewal of
    passport in the light of the observations made by this Court
    herein as well as the contents of the undertaking given by the
    petitioner for renewal of his passport in accordance with law,
    within three (03) weeks from the date when the petitioner
    submits certified copies of undertaking in terms of direction
    nos.(ii) and (iii) above;

    ANKIT
    2026.05.01 17:42
    I attest to the accuracy and
    integrity of this document
    High Court, Chandigarh

    CWP-17945-2025 (O&M) -19-

    v) Upon preparation of the renewed passport, the petitioner
    shall deposit the original renewed passport before the trial
    Court where proceedings are pending in FIR No. 116 dated
    13.05.2021, within a period of 10 days from the date of receipt
    of passport by the petitioner;

    vi) However, liberty is granted to the petitioner herein to file an
    application before the concerned trial Court(s) for seeking
    permission to travel abroad and it is for the concerned trial
    Court(s) to consider the same in accordance with law.”

    17. All the pending application(s), if any, shall also stand closed.

    
    
                                                                               (HARSH BUNGER)
                               20.04.2026                                          JUDGE
                               ankit
    
    
                                            Whether speaking/reasoned:              Yes/No
                                            Whether reportable:                     Yes/No
    
    
    
    
    ANKIT
    2026.05.01 17:42
    I attest to the accuracy and
    integrity of this document
    High Court, Chandigarh
    



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