High Court · 2025

1 . Bollampally Veerareddy, S/o. Kista Reddy, Aged .63 V9ar9,, O9c, ?1t]!^"*;,^^ Z. Smt. Bolldmpally Umarani, W/o.- B. Veerareddy,.ASed; lu^Jegl?:-Yi: Housewife, Botti are residents of H.No. 12-51 , Meerpet' I HK I ownsnlp' Adarsh Nagar, Saroor Nagar, R.R. District ...'ET'T.ONERS AND

1. Union of lndia, Rep. by its Under-Secre!9ry, ["laY Nirman Bhavan' Delhi' i. Vinistry of Ext'ernjl Afairs, New.Delhi, Rep. by its Secretary, 5. in" n,igionil Passport office, Hyderabad Rep' By Branch manager ...RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 ol lhe constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High court may be pleasedtoissueanappropriatewritorderordirectionmoreparticularlyoneinthe natureofWritofMandamusdeclaringtheactionoftheRespondentsin ,impounding the passports of the petitioners vide Passport No X60341 19 and kOOSSZZa iide Surrender Certificates on the ground of pendency of the criminal case vide vide c.c. No. 495/2023 for the offence u/sec. 498(4) IPC Rl/w. sec' 3 + Op Act as illegal, improper, unjust, arbitrary and contrary to^ law and conseqrentty set asidelhe same and further direct the Respondent No.3 to return "nO the passporti No. X60341 19 and X6035728 to the petitioners' lA NO: 1 OF 2025 petition under section 151 cPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High court may be pleased to direct theRespondentNo.3toreturnthepassportsNo.X6034l,lgandX6035T2Btothe petitioners, forthwith, pending disposal of above writ petition' Counsel for the Petitioners: SRI TUMMALA CHAITANYA CounselfortheRespondents:SRIGADIPRAVEENKUMAR,Dy.SoLIcIToR GEN. OF INDIA The Court made the following: ORDER THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J.SREENIVAS RAO WRIT PETITION No.45 24 0F 2025 ORDER: This writ petition is Iiled seeking the following relief: " ... pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction more particularly onc in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declarir-rg the action of the Respondents in impounding the passports of the petitioners vide Passport No. X6034 119 and X6O3S7 2g vide Surrender Certificates on the ground of pendency of the criminal case vide C. C. No. 495 /2023 for the offence u/sec 49g_ A IPC r/w secs. 3 and 4 of D.p. Act as illegal, improper, unjust, arbitrary and contrary to law and "on".qu.rrtly set aside the same and further direct the Respondent No.3 to return the passports No. X6O34 1i9 and X6O357 28 to the petitioners and pass......o

2. Heard Sri T.Chaitanya, learned counsel for the petitioners and Sri Gadi Praveen Kumar, learned Deputy Solicitor General of India appearing for respondents.

3. With the consent of learned counsel for the parties, the writ petition is being disposed of at the stage of admission.

4. After hearing learned counsei appearing for the petitioners as well as the respondents, it appears that the issue was considered by 2 co-ordinate Benches in w.p.Nos .g692 of 2023 and 22218 of 2024. Both the learned Single Judges referred the Hon'ble Supfe-me Court Judgment in Vangala Kasturi Z Rangacharyulu a. Central Bureau of Investigationl and came to the finding that mere pendency of criminal case carnot be a ground to decline the renewal/reissue of passport provided that the petitioner is ready for renewal/reissue of passport ln this case, the petitioners are also ready to cooperate with the Trial Court in concluding the trial and they are also willing to cooperate with the pending proceedings. ln Vangala Kasturi Rclngachdryz,tu (supral, the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that the Passport Authority cannot refuse the release of passport on the ground of pendency of criminal proceedings and accordingly directed the Passport Authority to renew the passport of the petitioner without raising objection relating to pendency of criminal proceedings'

5. This Court is accordingly of the view that thq Writ Petition can be disposed of by directing the respondent No'3 to consider the reply submitted by the petitioners artd take steps for reiease of the passport in due compliance of the findings of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Vangala Kasturi Rangacharyulu (supra\ ' The directions are as follows: \ 12020 Crl.L.l.(SC) s72 ( 3 (i) The respondent No.3 shall release the petitioners, passports within two weeks from 22.02.2025. Tlne respondent No.3 shall inform the petitioners of the time arrd place for the release of the passports. ii) The petitioners shall submit an undertaking along with an aflidavit before the learned I Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate at Visakhapatnam in C.C.No.495 of 2O23 stating that they will not leave India during pendency of the C.C. without permission of the Court and they will cooperate rvith the Trial Court in concluding the criminal proceedings. (iii) The Trial Court shall issue a certilied copy of the undertaking and affidavit within two weeks from the date of filing of the undertaking. (iv) The petitioners shall submit the certified copy of the aforesaid undertaking along with the reply/explanation before the concerned passport Officer for consideration of their application for release of passport. (v) Respondent No.3 shall be at liberty of taking steps on breach of the undertaking. v) The Passport Authority shall consider the documents in the light of the observations made h., \ I IE 4 the Courts as weil as the undertaking and other documents fiIed by the petitioners. The petitioners shall also be at liberty to rely on the decisions in this regard. The petitioners shall be at liber[z to file arr application belore the learned I Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate at Visakhapatnam seeking permission to travel outside India and the learned Magistrate shall consider the same in accordance with law.

6. With the above observations, the Writ Petition is disposed of. No costs. Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this n rit petition shall stand ciosed. There shall be order as to costs. //TRUE COPY// SD/.P.PADMANABHA REDDY ASSIST NT REGISTRAR SECTION OFFICER

1. The Under Secretary, Union of India, Nav Nirman Bhavan, Delhi, 2. The Secretary, Miniiiry of External Affairs, New Delhi' 5. tfre Arancn minager, Regional P-a.s9p9.rt Office, Hyderabad' +. onL-Cc to Sni ru"wrrlnlA CHAITANYA, Advocate [oPUCl d. o;; cc 6 SFii cADi PFIIVEEN kuH,tnn' ov. Soltbtron'GEN oF INDIA I To loPUcl Two CD Copies 6 PSK. GJP ,t/ HIGH COURT DATED:1710212025 ORDER WP.No.4524 of 2025 o CC TODAY SIAl€ o 1 1s ttB N6 o i pIc\ t, DISPOSING OF THE WRIT PETITION WITHOUT COSTS I q /z /7/1 ,/t /