IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH :: (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE SEVENTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE VENKATESWARLU NIMMAGADDA WRIT PETITION NO: 2096 OF 2025 Between: Vetukuri Venkata Siva Ramaraju, S/o.Vetukuri' Venkata Subbaraju, Aged about 55 years, R/o. 4-1/E, Main Road, Kalavapudi, Kalla Mandal, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh - 534236 ...Petitioner AND Union of India, Rep by its Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. Regional Passport Officer, Regional Passport office, Marripallem, Visakhapatnam District. The Station House Officer, Undi Police Station, West Godavari District. The Station House Officer, Palakoduru Police Station, West Godavari District. The Station House Officer, Kalla Police Station, West Godavari District. ...Respondents Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue any writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the Respondent No.2 in refusing to issue passport on the ground that there are criminal cases under FIR stage pending vide Letter dated 20-01-2025 as illegal, arbitrary and violation of Article 14, 21 and 19 of Constitution of India and to consequently setaside the same and further direct the respondent No.2 to issue Passport to the Petitioner without insisting permission from the court in respect of Cr.Nos. 276/2022, 277/2022, 101/2024 and 110/2024. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. in pt V’ "lA NO: 1 OF 2025 j' Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be * pleased to direct the 2"^^ respondent to issue passport to the petitioner in File NO.VS4067284240325 without insisting permission from the concerned court in respect of Cr.Nos. 276/2022, 277/2022, 101/2024 and 110/2024 referred under the impugned letter dated 20-01-2025 pending disposal of Writ Petition. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI V V SATISH Counsel for the Respondents 1 & 2: M/s THENEPALLI NIRANJAN SC FOR CENTRAL. GOVT. Counsel for the Respondents 3 to 5: GP FOR HOME The Court made the following order: 1 APHC010034842025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) [3329] FRIDAY ,THE SEVENTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE VENKATESWARLU NIMMAGADDA WRIT PETITION NO: 2096/2025 Between: ...PETITIONER Vetukuri Venkata Siva Ramaraju AND ...RESPONDENT(S) Union Of India and Others Counsel for the Petitioner: 1.VVSATISH Counsel for the Respondent{S): 1.THENEPALLI NIRANJAN SC FOR CENTRAL. GOVT 2.GP FOR HOME The Court made the following ORDER:- This writ petition is filed claiming the following relief: 1. “...to issue any writ order or direction more particuiariy one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the Respondent No. 2 in refusing to issue passport on the ground that there are criminal cases under FIR stage pending vide Letter dated 20.01.2025 as illegal, arbitrary and violation of Articles 14, 21 and 19 of Constitution of India and to consequently set aside the same and further direct the respondent No. 2 to issue Passport to the Petitioner without 2 ^ insisting permission from the court in respect of Cr.Nos.276/2022, 277/2022, 101/2024 and 110/2024 and to pass such other order or orders...” The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner had approached the 2nd respondent, i.e., the Regional Passport Officer, seeking a passport 2. vide application No. VS4067284240325 on 07.01.2025. However, the 2nd respondent issued the impugned proceedings via a letter dated 20.01.2025, alleging that, as per the police verification report, four criminal cases have been registered against the petitioner i.e.. Crime No. 101 of 2024 at Palakoduru Police Station, Crime No. 110 of 2024 at Kalla Police Station, and Crime Nos. 276/2022 and 277/2022 at Undi Police Station. Consequently, the 2'^'^ respondent directed the petitioner to produce orders from the concerned court permitting him to travel abroad. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that Crime No. 101 of 3. 2024 was registered for alleged offences under Sections 188, 341, and 143 read with 149 IPC and Crime No. 110 of 2024 was registered for alleged offences under Sections 188, 143, and 290 read with 140 IPC. Both cases are still at the FIR stage and under investigation. The crime No.110 was challenged before this Court in Criminal Petition No. 2777 of 2024, and this Court was pleased to stay all further proceedings through interim orders dated 29.04.2024. He further submits that if criminal proceedings are at the FIR stage, the respondents authorities cannot be consider it as a criminal case. Therefore, 4. T 3 nd respondent directing the petitioner to obtain permission orders from the concerned court to travel abroad is illegal and the letter issued by the 2 arbitrary. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner also relied upon the judgment rendered by this Court in Sannareddy Sudheer Kumar vs. The Union of India and others.^ 5. On the other hand, the learned Government Pleader for the respondents furnished written instructions stating that two cases were registered against the petitioner and 14 others as Crime No. 276/2022 under Sections 188, 341, 353, 332, 143, 144, 147, 148 read with 149 IPC and section 32 Police Act-1861 before the Undi Police Station, and Crime No. 277/2022 under Sections 188, 341, and 143 read with 149 IPC before the Undi Police Station on 14.11.2022. After a detailed investigation, the Investigating Officer referred the cases as a mistake of fact through 20.08.2024, and dated C.No.250/Refer/SDPO-B/2024, C.No.239/Refer/SDPO-B/2024, dated 31.07.2024. It is further stated that Respondent No. 3 is no way concerned with the issuance of the notice to the petitioner by Respondent No. 2. Learned Counsel for Respondents also relied upon a judgment rendered by this Court in Kadar Valli Shaik vs. Union of India, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi and others^. ^ MANU/AP/1733/2022; W.P.No.22049 of 2022, dated 26.09.2022 ^ 2023 (3) ALD 213 (AP) ^ Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned Standing Counsel for Respondent Nos.1 and 2, and the learned Government Pleader for Home and also perused the material placed on record. 6. It appears that the impugned notice was issued by Respondent No.2 on the premise that the petitioner herein is involved in a criminal cases and he obtained a passport by suppressing the same. 7. But, the fact remains that the said crime was still in the FIR stage, and the same was registered as Crime No. 101 of 2024 under Sections 188, 341, and 143 read with 149 IPC at Palakoduru Police Station and Crime No. 110 of 2024 under Sections 188, 143, and 290 read with 140 IPC at Kalla Police Station. Both cases are still at the FIR stage and under investigation. Therefore, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the proceedings of Respondent No.2 directing the petitioner to surrender the passport is contrary 8. to the law. For more understanding. Section 6(2) of the Passports Act, 1967 is 9. extracted hereunder: ‘‘Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the passport authority shall refuse to issue a passport or travel documentfor visiting any foreign country under clause I of sub-section (2) of section 5 on any one or more of the following grounds, and on no other ground, namely:— {f)that the applicant is not a citizen ofIndia; (h)that the applicant may, or is likely to, engage outside India in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity ofIndia; 5 hhat the departure of the applicant from India may, or is likely to, be detrimental to the security ofIndia; (d}that the presence of the applicant outside India may, or is likely to, prejudice the friendly relations ofIndia with any foreign country; (efthat the applicant has, at any time during the period ofifve 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; (fthat proceedings in respect ofan offence alleged to have been committed by the applicant are pending before a criminal court in India; (gfthat a warrant or summons for the appearance, or a warrant for the arrest, of the applicant has been issued by a court under any law for the time being in force or that an order prohibiting the departure from India of the applicant has been made by any such court; (hjthat the applicant has been repatriated and has not reimbursed the expenditure incurred in connection with such repatriation (fthat in the opinion of the Central Government the issue of a passport or travel document to the applicant will not be in the public interest. The issue of renewal of passport is regulated by the Passport Act, 10. 1967. Section 6(2) of the act, extracted above is relevant for this purpose. It is further observed that holding a passport and freedom to go abroad 11. has much social value and represents the basic human right of great significance. In Narige Ravindranath vs. The Union of India and others^, the High Court for the State of Telangana held as follows: 12. ^ W.P.No.25141 of 2023, dated 03.10.2023 6 6. The Apex Court in the judgment reported in 2013 (15) SCC page 570 in Sumit Mehta v State of NCT of Delhi at para 13 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. 13. The Division Bench of the Apex Court in its judgment dated 09.04.2019 reported in LAWS 2019(2) SCC online SC 2048 in Satish Chandra Verma v Union of India (UOI) and others at para 4 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 affected through refusal of freedom to go abroad and this freedom is a genuine human right. Taking into consideration, the facts and circumstances of the case and 14. the law laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court as well as this Court, the present writ petition is disposed of by directing the respondents to consider the 7 application of the petitioner without referring to the FIR (Crime) No. 101 of 2024 under Sections 188, 341, and 143 read with 149 IPC at Palakoduru Police Station and Crime No. 110 of 2024 under Sections 188, 143, and 290 read with 140 IPC at Kalla Police Station, and renew the passport to the petitioner for a period of three(3) years, if otherwise the application is in order, within a period of three (3) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and the order of Respondent No.2 issued vide Letter dated 20.01.2025 is hereby set-aside. 15. This order shall not preclude the Respondents from taking such steps as are necessary to ensure the presence of the petitioner for any other purposes. There shall be no order as to costs. Consequently, miscellaneous applications pending if any, shall stand closed. Sd/- K. SRINIVASA RAJU ASSISTANT REGISTJRtAR / //TRUE COPY// SECTibN OFFICER To. 1. The Secretary, Union of India, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. 2. The Regional Passport Officer, Regional Passport office, Marripallem, Visakhapatnam District. 3. The Station House Officer, Undi Police Station, West Godavari District. 4. The Station House Officer, Palakoduru Police Station, West Godavari District. 5. . The Station House Officer, Kalla Police Station, West Godavari District. 6. One CC to Sri VV Satish, Advocate [OPUC] 7. One CC to Sri Thenepalli Niranjan, SC for central. Govt. [OPUC] 8. Two CCs to GP for Home, High Court of Andhra Pradesh. [OUT] 9. Two CD Copies RAM % HIGH COURT DATED:07/02/2025 ORDER p 10 MAR 2025 Current Section . WP.No.2096 of 2025 m DISPOSING OF THE WP WITHOUT COSTS