Jaipur : Jaipur Rajasthan High Court has said that adverse police verification report in itself cannot deprive a citizen of his legal right to obtain a passport. The passport authority is not bound to accept an adverse (negative) police verification report. The High Court has given the freedom to the Passport Authority that after investigation at its level, if it finds any matter wrong as per the law, then it is free to take its own decision. A single bench of Justice Anup Dhand gave these orders while hearing the petition of Jaipur resident Savitri Sharma.
Take decision on passport renewal in 8 weeks
The court has asked the Central Government and the passport officer to decide the petitioner’s passport renewal application within 8 weeks. The court has given liberty to the Passport Department that if anything adverse is found in the case, they are free to take action as per law.
Application made on police verification report was rejected
Advocate Rakesh Chandel, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that the petitioner’s passport was valid till May 2022. In such a situation, he applied for passport renewal, but due to doubt in the police verification report, his application was rejected. This was challenged in the High Court and a request for passport renewal was made. In response to this, lawyer Manjeet Kaur, appearing for the department, said that the Regional Passport Office, New Delhi had conducted the police verification check of the petitioner. In this his nationality was doubtful and Nepali. Based on this report, his passport was not renewed. In response to this, the petitioner said that his grandfather lived in Nepal, but he was born in India. He got married here in 2017. She has two children and is a citizen of India. Therefore, renewal of his passport cannot be refused merely on the basis of adverse police investigation report. While hearing this, the court has asked not to deprive the passport merely because the police investigation report is adverse.
