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The action is assailed also on the ground of malafide and that no order has been communicated to him till date.

2. Certain public allegations into the administration and management of the United Nation Oil for Food Programme in Iraq were made. As a result, the United Nations Security Council appointed an independent high level inquiry headed by Mr. Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the United States Federal Reserve to look into the administration and management of the programme in Iraq. On 27th October, 2005 the Volcker Committee submitted its fifth and final substantiative report setting out the manner in which Iraq had manipulated the programme to dispense contracts on the basis of political preference and to derive illicit payments from companies that obtained oil and humanitarian aid contracts. It appears that the Volcker Committee report contained a reference to transactions involving one Shri Andleeb Sehgal and his company Masefield AG, Switzerland. The report was accompanied with a set of eight comprehensive tables identifying contractors under the programme and actors of significance to the programme transactions (including non-contractual beneficiaries of Iraqi oil allocations) and parties that financed the oil transactions.

17. Mr. Lalit, learned senior counsel has urged at great length that in the notice dated 2nd September, 2006 the role attributed to other persons named was much more serious than the role attributed to the petitioner. The submission is that the respondent has not even suspended, let alone impounded or revoked the passport of any other person implicated by the Volcker Commission or the Pathak Commission or to whom the notice to show cause has been issued.

It is also pointed out by learned senior counsel, that under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, only a penalty is in fiscal terms subject to a maximum thereof has been fixed as three times of the amount of the violation is prescribed.

98. The petitioner has contended that he is not an accused in any criminal proceedings. The allegations made in the Volcker inquiry report are pending adjudication and, therefore, are yet to be decided by process of law and adjudication. The petitioner has objected to the applicability of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 on the ground that under Section 8 of this statute, the same would apply only to a person resident in India whereas the petitioner is a non-resident Indian.

136. The CBI is not holding the passport as a document seized during the course of any search/seizure or proceedings against the petitioner.

137. My attention is drawn to the pronouncement of this court reported at 129 (2006) DLT 470 Jamal Ajmal Saidi vs. UOI & Ors. The petitioner in this writ petition was a consultant for various multinational companies whose business required him to frequently travel abroad. Notice was issued to him pursuant to the media reports about the Volcker report. This petitioner had assailed the respondent's action in illegally retaining his passport without any formal order. The court reiterated the principle that every decision or action of the state, in relation to a citizen's rights must be traced to, or be relatable to legal provisions; they must bear a "legal pedigree" (Ref: State of U.P. vs. Maharaja Dharmende Prasad Singh MANU/SC/0563/1989; Bishan Das vs. State of Punjab MANU/SC/0348/1961. The respondents action was thus held to be violative of the law.