"No absolute right to demand passport in her favour:" Jammu and Kashmir High Court dismisses Mehbooba Mufti's plea seeking issuance of passport

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by president of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former J&K Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti seeking directions to the government and police authorities to issue passport to her (Mehbooba Mufti v. Union of India and Ors)..The Bench of Justice Ali Mohammad Magray observed that Mufti's application for passport was rejected by the passport officer, Srinagar as the police verification report recommended against issuance of the same.."In such circumstances, I am of the considered view that no direction can be issued by this court for issuance of passport in favour of the petitioner. Even otherwise, the scope of this court in the matter of grant or otherwise of passport in favour of an individual is very limited in as much as the court, in this behalf, can only direct the concerned authorities to expeditiously consider the case of an individual in the light of the mandate of the scheme of law governing the subject," the order said..Mufti's passport had expired on May 31, 2019.She had, therefore, applied for renewal of passport which was received on the file of Passport Officer on December 11, 2020.After the receipt of the application, complete in all respects, the Passport Officer sought police verification from Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), District Srinagar.Since, the police verification did not happen for a whole month, she submitted a representation to the SSP stating that as per the Central government guidelines, police verification has to be completed within 21 days.She thereafter moved the High Court after there was no action on the part of the authorities. Mufti contended that the right to travel abroad is a facet of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution and it cannot be curtailed except in accordance with the procedure established by law."The delay occasioned in issuing the passport in favour of the Petitioner and thereto in restraining the Petitioner from travelling abroad is not only illegal but violates with impunity the mandate of Article 21 of the Constitution of India," the petition filed through M/S Jahangir Ganai Law Associates stated.The High Court had, on March 9, sought the response of the Central government and the Union Territory of J&K.When the matter was taken up for hearing on Monday, Assistant Solicitor General of India (ASGI), Tahir Majid Shamsi produced a communication issued by the passport office Srinagar which stated that the case of petitioner was found to attract refusal under provisions of Section 6(2)(c) of the Passport Act, 1967. The provision provide that passport can be refused if departure of the applicant from India may, or is likely to, be detrimental to the security of India. Besides, Shamsi contended that the petitioner has the remedy of appeal to joint Secretary (PSP) and Chief Passport Officer, Ministry of External Affairs against the refusal order made by the respondent within 30 days from the date of the receipt of the order under Section 11 of the Passport Act, 1967.Senior Counsel Jahangir Iqbal Ganai, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, submitted that Section 11 of the passport Act, 1967 in not applicable to the case on hand since the rejection/refusal order of the passport of the petitioner has been purportedly issued by the respondent under Section 6 of the Passport Act which is not covered for appeal under section 11 of the Act of 1967..Notably, the petitioner submitted an application on 11th of December, 2020 for issuance of passport to her..The Court after hearing the parties ruled that the scope of the High Court in the matter of grant of passport in favour of an individual is very limited. "It can only direct the concerned authorities to expeditiously consider the case of an individual in the light of the mandate of the scheme of law governing the subject," the Court said.That exercise has already been undertaken by the authorities, the Court added. .Further, the Court also said petitioner has no absolute right to demand a passport in her favour as per the law laid down by the Supreme Court in case titled Satwant Singh Sawhney v. D. Ramarathnam, Assistant Passport Officer, New Delhi. .The petition was, therefore, dismissed. .[Read Order]