Delhi High Court Directs Passport Office In Srinagar To Decide Mehbooba Mufti's Application For Passport Within 3 Months

The Union Government on Friday told the Delhi High Court that the Passport Authority in Srinagar has been directed to take a fresh decision on former J&K Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti's request for issuance of passport.

The submission was made during the hearing of a petition filed by Mufti seeking expeditious decision on her appeal against the rejection of her application for renewal of the passport. 

Advocate Kirtiman Singh, representing the union government, told the court that a decision was taken yesterday on Mufti's appeal and the matter has been remanded to the passport office in Srinagar 

Justice Prathiba M Singh directed the passport officer to take the decision expeditiously, within three months.

The direction was passed considering the fact that the matter has been remanded back to the regional passport officer and there has been a delay of almost two years since the rejection of her application. 

”Let the concerned passport officer take a decision within three months. The petition is disposed of,” the court ordered.

Background

Mufti had earlier approached a passport office in Srinagar for renewal of the passport in 2020. However, after being denied the renewal, she moved the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.

In 2021, a single bench of High Court dismissed her petition, saying that the scope of the court in the matter of grant or otherwise of passport in favour of an individual is very limited as it can only direct the concerned authorities to expeditiously consider the case of an individual in the light of the mandate of the scheme of law governing the subject. J&K CID had recommended against giving her passport.

"However, the respondents have already undertaken the said exercise in tune with the mandate of the scheme of law by, firstly, seeking report from the Police/ CID authorities, and, thereafter, passing the order in tune with such recommendations of the police/ CID authorities. Besides, the Court finds substance in the argument of [DSG] Mr Shamsi qua the petitioner having no absolute right to demand a passport in her favour," Justice (since retired) Ali Mohammad Magrey said in the ruling passed in March 2021.

In April 2021, a division bench of the high court granted Mufti the liberty to approach the appropriate authority to avail the proper remedy available to her.  "On receipt of the appeal, the authority concerned shall consider and decide the same on its merits, strictly under rules, regulations and the provisions of the Act, that too un-influenced by the observations made in the judgment impugned dated 29th of March, 2021," said the court.

Letter To Minister

On February 20, Mufti sought intervention of Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar for facilitating clearance of her and her mother’s passport. In a letter written to the union minister, Mufti said that the matter has been dragged on needlessly for the last three years.

“My mother & I applied for passport renewal in March 2020. J&K CID gave an adverse report that issuing passports to my eighty year old mother & me would undermine national security. In J&K it has become the norm to arbitrarily reject passport applications of thousands including journalists, shadents and others by misusing national interest as a pretext,” her letter read.

Mufti in her letter to External Affairs minister said the “inordinate & deliberate delay in issuing” her passport is a grave violation of her fundamental right.

“If suspending my basic rights in a democracy like ours is done with such brazen impunity & contempt, one can't even imagine what an ordinary Kashmiri goes through. My daughter Iltija applied for her passport renewal in June 2022. Her application too is in limbo & it seems that the Passpon Office in Srinagar is yet again failing to discharge its duty,” she said. 

Passport Of Other Family Members

In January this year, the High Court in Srinagar directed the Passport Officer to consider Mufti's mother Gulshan Nazir's application for re-issuance of passport afresh and said that the authority has not to act as "mouthpiece of the CID". It ruled that the police verification report cannot override the statutory provisions of Section 6 of the Passport Act, 1967.

Justice M A Chowdhary in the ruling that the police verification report was formulated in reference to two cases as both the applications moved by Nazir and her daughter Mufti were dealt with together and in respect of both the applications, Police Verification Report (PVR) remarks were recorded as: ‘Passport service not recommended and connected security clearance withheld’.

However, the court observed that the police verification report had been formulated indicating the security angles for passport clearance of the former Chief Minister while with regard to the her mother, there was not "even an iota of allegation" which could indicate the security concerns of the State.

In a similar development, the former chief minister's daugher Iltija Mufti also approached the high court in Srinagar in respect of her passport. The court has issued notice in the case and listed the matter for hearing on March 18.

Title: MEHBOOBA MUFTI v. JOINT SECRETARY (PSP) AND CHIEF PASSPORT OFFICER

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 200