Having passport, travelling abroad basic human right: High Court

Shimla, July 6

In an important ruling, the HP High Court has held that “acquiring passport and the right to travel abroad is an important basic human right and the deprivation of such right cannot be permitted to operate in an arbitrary, unjust and oppressive manner”.

This was held by the court on a petition filed by a person alleging that the passport authority is not renewing his passport on the ground that an FIR is pending against him.

While directing the Passports Authority, Shimla, to renew the passport of the petitioner in accordance with law expeditiously without taking into account the pendency of FIR-criminal case, Justice Ranjan Sharma observed that “the non-renewal or withholding of renewal of passport amounts to penalising the petitioner on the basis of mere accusation-suspicion, which is yet to be proved during the trial.”

Justice Ranjan Sharma observed that “once the state authorities or the passport authorities have not pointed out any adversarial circumstances that the renewal of passport and right to go abroad will prejudice the security of the state then non-renewal is arbitrary.”

The court held that “the right of renewal of passport and the right to go abroad covers within its ambit the right to earn livelihood and to live with human dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the inaction of the respondents in withholding or denying renewal of passport, without there being any cogent material, is certainly oppressive, arbitrary.

While directing the passport authority to complete the entire process within three weeks from the receipt of the order, the court also imposed certain conditions on the petitioner and directed him to furnish a personal bond amounting to Rs 75,000 with one local surety of a similar amount to the satisfaction of the trial court concerned, before proceeding abroad, after renewal of his passport.