HC asks officer to release man's passport

Accepting the plea of a man, facing trial in a matrimonial case lodged by his wife, the Delhi High Court has directed the passport authority to release his passport which was revoked on the ground of criminal charges against him.
The court, however, directed him not to leave the country without its permission and also asked him to attend the ongoing criminal proceedings.
Allowing Manish Kumar Mittal's plea against the passport authority, Justice V K Jain said, "The order passed by the Regional Passport Officer (RPO) directing the petitioner (Mittal) to surrender his passport as well as the order passed by the appellate authority are, hereby, set aside. The respondents (authorities) are directed to release the passport of the petitioner to him forthwith."

The court also asked the RPO to pass an order within eight weeks after giving an opportunity to Mittal to make his stand clear under provisions of the Passports Act.
"If the RPO decides to revoke/impound the passport of the petitioner, he will have to pass a speaking order in terms of Sub-section (5) of Section 10 and supply a copy of the said order to the petitioner," the court said.
"In the meanwhile, Mittal, on getting passport from the RPO, does not flee the country and continues to attend the criminal trial pending against him, it is directed that till a fresh order under the Passport Act is passed, in terms of this order, he shall not leave the country without prior permission of the court in which the criminal trial against him is pending," the court said.

In his plea, Mittal said that following his wife's complaint in 2006, an FIR was registered against him in Dwarka police station and he was issued with a passport in 2007 by the authority.
However, on his father-in-law's complaint for cancellation of his passport, the RPO had passed an order directing him to surrender his passport without hearing him.