Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:50993-DB Court No. - 29 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 10170 of 2025 Petitioner :- Basant Kumar Yadav Respondent :- Union Of India And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Brajesh Kumar Singh,Shailendra Kumar Maurya Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I. Hon'ble Ashwani Kumar Mishra,J. Hon'ble Donadi Ramesh,J. Petitioner's application for issuance of passport has been kept pending on account of pendency of N.C.R. No. 0199 of 2020, under Sections 323, 504, 506 IPC. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the provisions of the Passport Act clearly provide for non-issuance of passport only in a case where conviction involving moral turpitude is for a period of two years or where criminal proceedings are pending. Reliance is placed upon Section 6(2)(e) and 6(2)(f) of the Passport Act, 1967. Sections 6(2)(e) and 6(2)(f) of the Passport Act, 1967 read as under:- "6(2) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the passport authority shall refuse to issue a passport or travel document for visiting any foreign country under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 5 on any one or more of the following grounds, and on no other ground, namely:? (e) that the applicant has, at any time during the period of five years immediately preceding the date of his application, been convicted by a court in India for any offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced in respect thereof to imprisonment for not less than two years; (f) that proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by the applicant are pending before a criminal court in India." Section 6(2)(e) and 6(2)(f) will have to be read conjointly in order to understand the statutory scheme itself. Although, Section 6(2)(f) provides that in a case where criminal proceedings are pending, the authorities would be entitled not to issue a passport, but this provision has to be read in conjunction with Section 6(2)(e), which clearly exhibits the statutory intent that only in cases where a person has been convicted for any offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced for not less than two years during the last 5 years that such passport can be denied. The pendency of criminal proceedings, therefore, will have to be read in light of section 6(2)(e) and in cases other than those covered by Section 6(2)(e), it would not be prudent for the passport authorities to withhold the issuance of passport only on the ground of pendency of criminal proceedings. It is argued that in this particular case, the offences attributed to the petitioner are not in respect of the moral turpitude and otherwise the maximum sentence, which could be awarded is below two years. Once that be so, the pendency of criminal proceedings would not constitute any basis for the authorities not to consider the application for issuance of passport. In that view of the matter and in light of the above observations made, this writ petition stands disposed of with a direction upon the second respondent to accord consideration to petitioner's application for issuance of passport, in accordance with the provisions of the Passport Act, 1967, within a period of six weeks, from the date of presentation of a certified copy of this order. Order Date :- 8.4.2025 Noman Digitally signed by :- NOMAN AHMAD High Court of Judicature at Allahabad