• Show Cause notice for passport application regard to police case

Hello respected lawyers,
I, Dr Puneet Singh Potdar from Gwalior had applied online for passport and had completed the formal verification process through passport camp held at my home town. Thereafter police verification had been done, where I produced an affidavit that there had been a police case against me ,with details of it  ,but no court had denied me to travel outside the country.
Now I have received a notice from the regional passport office Bhopal that states receipt of an adverse police verification report corresponding to my application. The letter is dated 10 Nov 2016 and was received by post personally by me on 16 Nov 2016.
The letter remarks AAWEDAK KE VIRUDH THANA KAMPOO PAR CRIME NO 365/15 ACT 294,323,506,34 IPC KA KAYAM HAI. JISKA CHALAN NYAYALAYA PESH KIYA JANA HAI.
Letter further states that[ if any court case submit 1. Court certified copy. 2 explanation(required action may be taken by authority)
You are therefore , called upon to provide a suitable explanation within 30 days and are required to furnish proper explanation regarding the circumstances under which you had withheld material information. In case of non response or non satisfactory response within the specified period you will be denied passport against this o rany other future applications unless cleared in appeal by the consular , passport and visa division or court]
Now a little information about the police case, FIR was launched by me and my neigh bour against each other for a minor argument resulting in a brawl .We are not on talking terms anymore. When I seeked further information about the case from the police station I was informed that a chargesheet had been filed against both parties in the court on 25/10/16 and a date for hearing was fixed but neither parties appeared so next date was found from the court to be 29/12/16. Apparently ,neither parties were provided any notifications of the first date or the filing of chargesheets by the police.
My questions to the esteemed lawyers
1)Why am I being accused of withholding information by the passport office when my affidavit clearly stated about the case and its details.?
2)Can the passport office reject my application and confiscate my application fees despite not being denied foreign travel by court?
3)Since the police provided no information of the first hearing and second hearing is on 29 dec, how  do I get a certified copy of the court within 30 days. Also is the 30 days period from my receiving of the letter or the date of issue?
4)Should I get another affidavit about the police case and its ongoing status in the court and produce it as my explanation to the passport office. In that case what certified copy of court documents do I produce. What should be the format of my response?
5)Am I supposed to personally travel to the regional passport office to Bhopal to produce the documents. I am a doctor and have a busy schedule. Will sending the abovesaid by speed post work?
I AM NOT IN THE MOOD TO TRAVEL OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY ANYTIME SOON. Yet I want my passport done with as I don’t want to go through the tedious application process again besides I don’t know if another passport camp will happen in my city anytime soon plus, if am rejected once the reapplication process is bound to only get even more complicated.
Any kind of advice on the mater will be highly appreciated.
Asked 7 years ago in Criminal Law
Religion: Hindu

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4 Answers

1. Your ignorance of charge sheet is no excuse. Since you withheld the information which may be beyond your knowledge you were rightly show caused by the passport authority.

2. Yes the authority may cancel the passport or ask you to get permission for court.

3. Yes within 30 days the certified copy can be obtained.

4. Get a copy of the charge sheet and then reply on your version of the case.

5. Yes, your personal presence is required at least on the first occasion.

Comply the present show cause notice and forget about another application as if your passport is cancelled now then in the near future you are not going to get passport till the case is dismissed in your favour.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
22779 Answers
484 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1) an applicant against whom a criminal case is pending, is required to obtain necessary permission from the Criminal Court wherein his case is pending and then make an application to the passport authority.

2)Clause (f) of sub-section (2) of Section 6 of the Passports Act, 1967 (hereinafter referred to as Act) empowers the Passport authority to refuse to issue a passport or travel documents for going abroad in the event the proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by the applicant are pending before a criminal Court in India.

notification issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi dated 25th August, 1993 in GSR 570(E). The relevant extract of the notification reads thus:- "No, GSR 570(E) In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Section 22 of the Passports Act, 1967 (15 of 1967) and in supersession of the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of External Affairs No.G.S.R.(E), dated the 14th April, 1970, the Central Government, being of the opinion that it is necessary in public interest to do so, hereby exempts citizens of India against whom proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by them are pending before a criminal Court in India and who produce orders from the court concerned permitting them to depart from India, from the operation of the provisions of clause (f) of sub section (2) of Section 6 of the said Act. Subject to the following conditions, namely;- (a) the passport to be issued to every such citizen shall be issued -

(i) for the period specified in order of the court referred to above, if the court specified a period for which the passport has to be issued; or

(ii) if no period either for the issue of the passport or for the travel abroad is specified in such order, the passport shall be issued for a period of one year;

(iii) if such order gives permission to travel abroad for a period less than one year, but does not specify the period validity of the passport, the passport shall be issued for one year; or

(iv) if such order gives permission to travel abroad for a period less than one year, but does not specify the period validity of the passport, then the passport shall be issued for the period of travel abroad specified in the order. (b) any passport issued in terms of (a)(i) and (a)(n) can be further renewed for one year at a time, provided the applicant has not travelled abroad for the period sanctioned by the court; and provided further that, in the meantime, the order of the court is not cancelled or modified; (c) any passport issued in terms of (a)(i) above can be further renewed only on the basis of a fresh court order specifying a further period of validity of the passport or specifying a period for travel abroad;

(d) the Laid citizen shall given an undertaking in writing to the passport issuing authority that he shall, if required by the Court concerned, appear before it at any time during the continuance in force of the passport so issued".

3)you have not with held any information but passport would not be issued to you without court permission

4)passport office would reject your application at present

5)period of 30 days would be counted from date of receipt of notice

6) you cna send documents by speed post to RPO bhopal

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94522 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. Concealment cannot be attributed to you if you had furnished the details of the pendency of the case in the affidavit.

2. Your passport application can be rejected due to the pendency of the case, but while taking a decision on whether or not to allow the passport application the passport officer has to make an objective analysis of the seriousness of the case. Mere pendency of the criminal case is not a ground to reject the application of the applicant.

3. You should deliver the documents personally and obtain an acknowledgment.

4. If you have a case pending against you then you must have engaged a lawyer for your defence. How is it possible that you did not know about the hearing? Be that as it may, obtain a certified copy through your lawyer.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1)Why am I being accused of withholding information by the passport office when my affidavit clearly stated about the case and its details.?

While you were required to furnish the relevant information in the passport application, you failed to it but later on attached an affidavit which cannot be accepted during police verification, hence you are liable to give explanation as sought.

2)Can the passport office reject my application and confiscate my application fees despite not being denied foreign travel by court?

The permission to travel abroad by a court is different to that of the application for issuance of passport.

Dont mix both the subjects with each other.

3)Since the police provided no information of the first hearing and second hearing is on 29 dec, how do I get a certified copy of the court within 30 days. Also is the 30 days period from my receiving of the letter or the date of issue?

You approach your advocate who will apply for certified copies from court and you can produce it before authorities.

4)Should I get another affidavit about the police case and its ongoing status in the court and produce it as my explanation to the passport office. In that case what certified copy of court documents do I produce. What should be the format of my response?

You can give an explanation letter attaching the certified copies of the pending case.

5)Am I supposed to personally travel to the regional passport office to Bhopal to produce the documents. I am a doctor and have a busy schedule. Will sending the abovesaid by speed post work?

If you may visit the passport office personally it will enable you to tackle any or all other further observations and can comply with them accordingly.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

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