Wassan Singh vs Union Of India & Ors on 24 January, 2023
Mr. Bikramjit Singh Baath, Advocate appearing on behalf of
the petitioner submitted that despite the fact that the present petition, which
is a second round of litigation, the action of the respondent-Passport
Authorities was not only arbitrary but also unfair since the reasons
mentioned in the impugned order are contrary to the settled law and the
statutory provisions. He submitted that a perusal of the impugned order
would show that reference has been made to two FIRs i.e. FIR No.151 of
2015, under Sections 124-A, 153-B, 115,117, 120-B IPC and Section 13(1)
of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Police Station Chatiwind,
District Amritsar and FIR No.139 of 2015, under Sections 341, 117, 147,
151, 120-B IPC and Section 8-B of National Highway Act, 1956. He
submitted that in both the FIRs even challan was not presented by the
police against the petitioner and they were at the stage of investigation only
and therefore, a mere pendency of the FIRs cannot create any embargo
upon the petitioner for getting the passport. He referred to two judgments
of this Court in Daler Singh Vs. Union of India and others [2015(8) RCR
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Neutral Citation No:=2023:PHHC:013535
CWP-5164-2018 (O&M) -5-
(Civil) 618 ]and Sahib Jaskaran Singh Versus Union of India and others
[CWP No.19551 of 2015] to contend that mere pendency of FIRs do not
come within the scope of Section 6(2) of the Passports Act, 1967. By way
of impugned order, the Passport Authorities have not granted passport to
the petitioner in view of Section 6(2) (f) of the Passports Act which pertain
only to the proceedings in respect of which an offence alleged to have been
committed by the applicant are pending before a criminal Court in India
and since no criminal proceedings were pending against the petitioner, non-
issuance of passport to the petitioner was contrary to the statutory
provisions of Section 6 (2) (f) of the Passports Act, 1967, besides also
being contrary to the aforesaid two judgments passed by this Court.