Girish Haribhai Trivedi vs State Of Gujarat on 20 February, 2023

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Gujarat High Court

Girish Haribhai Trivedi vs State Of Gujarat on 20 February, 2023

Bench: Ilesh J. Vora

     R/SCR.A/594/2023                                  ORDER DATED: 20/02/2023




            IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

           R/SPECIAL CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 594 of 2023

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                         GIRISH HARIBHAI TRIVEDI
                                  Versus
                            STATE OF GUJARAT
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Appearance:
MR MANOJ S JOSHI(2961) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MS MITA S PANCHAL(530) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR KSHITIJ AMIN, STANDING COUNSEL for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MS MAITHILI MEHTA, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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 CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ILESH J. VORA

                               Date : 20/02/2023

                                ORAL ORDER

1. By this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the Petitioner has prayed for the following main reliefs:

"(B) Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a writ of certiorari or a writ in the nature of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order, or direction quashing and setting aside the order dated 08.09.2022 passed in Revision Application No. 86/2022 by the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural), Mirzapur and further be pleased to issue necessary direction to the Respondent No.2 to issue/renew the passport of the Petitioner for a period of five years from the date of its issuance forthwith in the interest of justice."

2. Ms. Panchal, ld. counsel for the Petitioner submits that the FIR has been lodged against the Petitioner under Sections 467, 468, 471 and 120(b) of Indian Penal Code, 1860 at Satellite Police Station, Ahmedabad which is culminated into Criminal Case No.12084/2012.

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R/SCR.A/594/2023 ORDER DATED: 20/02/2023 The Petitioner has filed one quashing petition before this Court, in which the proceedings before the trial Court has been stayed by this Court till final disposal of the petition. She further submits that, the Petitioner is doing export import business and his two daughters are studying abroad and therefore, for business purpose, the Petitioner intends to travel abroad. She also submits that, the petitioner was holding a passport with a validity upto 21.12.2022 and therefore, he had applied for its renewal with a validity of five years before Respondent No.2, but Respondent No.2 issued renewal of passport with a validity of one year only.

3. In view of the facts of the case, the authority concerned shall look into the Notification issued by the Ministry of External Affairs dated 25.08.1993 in this regard. It reads as under:-

"In exercise of the process conferred by clause (a) of Section 22 of the Passport Act, 1967 (15 of 1967) and in supersession of the Notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of External Affairs No. G.S.R 298 (E) dated the 14th April, 1976, the Central Government, being of the opinion that it is necessary in public interest to do so, hereby exempts citizens of India against whom proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by them are pending before a criminal court in India and who produce orders from the court concerned permitting them to depart from India, from the operation of the provisions of Clause

(f) of sub-section (2) of Section 6 of the said Act, subject to the following conditions, namely:-

(a) the passport to be issued to every such citizen shall be issued -

(i) for the period specified in order of the court referred to above, if the court specifies a period for which the passport has to be issued; or

(ii) if no period either for the issue of the passport or for the travel abroad is specified in such order, the passport shall be issued for a period of one year

(iii) if such order gives permission to travel abroad for a period less than one year, but does not specify the period validity of the passport, the passport shall be issued for one year; or

(iv) if such order gives permission to travel abroad for a period exceeding one year, and does not specify the validity of the passport, then the passport shall be issued for the period of travel abroad specified in the order.

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R/SCR.A/594/2023 ORDER DATED: 20/02/2023

(b) any passport issued in terms of (a)(ii) and (a) (iii) above can be further renewal for one year at a time, provided the applicant has not travelled abroad for the period sanctioned by the court; and provided further that in the meantime the order of the court is not cancelled or modified;

(c) any passport issued in terms of (a) (i) above can be further renewed only on the basis of a fresh court order specifying a further period of validity of the passport or specifying a period of travel abroad;

(d) the said citizen shall give an undertaking in writing to the passport issuing authority that he shall, if required by the court concerned, appear before it at any time during the continuance to force of the passport so issued."

4. In view of the above, the impugned order dated 08.09.2022 passed by Addl. District and Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural) at Mirzapur is hereby quashed and set aside. Regional Passport Officer concerned is directed to issue /renew Passport of the Petitioner with a validity period of 5 years, in terms of the Notification referred to above. This exercise shall be completed within a period of two months from the date of receipt of this order

5. With the above observation and direction, this petition is disposed of. Direct service is permitted (ILESH J. VORA,J) SUCHIT Page 3 of 3 Downloaded on : Mon Feb 20 21:05:08 IST 2023

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