Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:137209-DB Court No. - 21 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 6221 of 2025 Petitioner :- Gauri Shankar Ojha Respondent :- Union Of India And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ram Kishun Misra Counsel for Respondent :- Ajay Singh,A.S.G.I.,C.S.C. Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Gupta,J. Hon'ble Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra,J. 1. Heard Sri Ram Kishun Mishra, learned counsel for petitioner, Sri Ajay Singh, learned counsel for respondent Nos.1, 2 and 3 and learned Standing Counsel for respondent No.4. 2. The petitioner approached this Court by filing Writ-C No.41545 of 2024 seeking a writ of mandamus directing respondent Nos. 1, 2 and 3 herein to consider the application of petitioner dated 29.07.2024 for renewal of the passport. In the said writ petition, the specific case of the petitioner was that at the relevant time, he was in South Korea and application for renewal was submitted by him online from South Korea. It was also his case that one case was pending against him under Sections 2/3/5 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and interim order dated 11.05.2022 was passed in favour of the petitioner in Application (U/S 482) No.3772 of 2022, whereby the proceedings of the criminal case were stayed. The writ petition was disposed of vide order dated 18.12.2024 by a Co-ordinate Bench directing respondent No.2 i.e. In-Charge/Ambassador of Embassy of India, Republic of Korea through Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi to forward the application of the petitioner to respondent No.3 i.e. Regional Passport Officer, Passport Bhawan, Lucknow within a period of one week, with a further direction to respondent No.3 to examine the same in light of the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in Writ-C No.41540 of 2023 (Pawan Kumar Rajhar vs. Union of India & 2 Ors, (Neutral Citation No.2024:AHC:26720-DB), within the next two weeks. 3. It seems that thereafter, on 10.02.2025 the Assistant Passport Officer, Regional Passport Office, Lucknow sent a communication to the petitioner stating that the proceedings of the criminal case are still pending. The petitioner was required to submit the permission/no-objection from the Competent Court, failing which, the file would be closed. It also seems that thereafter, the matter was taken up by another Co-ordinate Bench on 13.06.2025 and wherein, the instructions submitted by the Regional Passport Office has been noted to the effect that the application of the petitioner was pending at the Embassy of India, Seoul (Republic of Korea). 4. Sri Ajai Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondent Nos.1, 2 and 3 was granted further time to obtain instructions regarding the status of the renewal application of the petitioner. In pursuance of the said direction, the instructions have been obtained from the Assistant Passport Officer, Regional Passport Office, Lucknow, which are as follows:- " Sir Kingly refer your letter dated 07.08.2025 on the subject as cited above. In this regards, it is submitted that as per provision provided in Section 4 (2) (a) of Passport Act, 1967, Emergency Certificate may be issued to applicant from the concerned Embassy/Consulate for returning to India. 2. Emergency Certificate (EC) is a travel documents that allows India Citizen to enter India. 3. This is for your information please. This issue with the approval of Competent Authority." 5. Sri Ajay Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondent Nos.1, 2 and 3 submits that so far the petitioner has not submitted any no-objection from the competent jurisdictional Magistrate in relation to the criminal case pending against him. 6. On the other hand, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the application in this regard could not be filed, as the petitioner is still in South Korea. 7. It is evident from the instructions furnished by the Regional Passport officer that it is ready to issue an emergency certificate to the petitioner, as provided under Section 4 (2) (a) of the Passport Act, 1967, to facilitate the return of petitioner to the Country. 8. Sri Ajay Singh, learned counsel for respondent Nos.1, 2 and 3 states that after the petitioner returns to India on the basis of emergency certificate, he may apply for no-objection certificate in terms of the law laid down in Pawan Kumar Rajhar (supra). 9. Sri Ram Kishun Mishra, learned counsel for the petitioner, in view of the aforesaid stand, submits that the petitioner will apply for issuance of emergency certificate and prays that a direction be issued to the Passport Officer to issue the relevant certificate expeditiously. He also states that thereafter, the petitioner will obtain the requisite permission from the Court and file the same before the Passport Officer. 10. Sri Ajay Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Regional Passport Officer concedes that for the grant of emergency certificate, no separate fee is required except the submission of an application through online mode. He further submits that as soon as any such application is filed, the relevant certificate would be issued. 11. In terms of the stand taken by the learned counsel for parties before this Court, the writ petition is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to submit online application for issuance of emergency certificate and whereupon the relevant certificate shall be issued as per law, expeditiously and preferably within one week. It shall thereafter be open to the petitioner to act in accordance with the liberty granted to him by the previous order passed by the Co-ordinate Bench dated 18.12.2024 in Writ-C No.41545 of 2024. (R.M.N.Mishra, J.) (Manoj Kumar Gupta, J.) Order Date :- 12.8.2025 Amit Digitally signed by :- AMIT KUMAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad Digitally signed by :- AMIT KUMAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad