New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) The central government on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it has "no malafide intention" in issuing advocate Prashant Bhushan a passport with an year's validity instead of the usual 10 years and the decision was taken as criminal cases are pending against him.
The government told Justice Rajiv Shakdher that the action to issue a short validity passport of one year to Bhushan was completely in conformity with the prevailing provisions of an August 25, 1993 notification.
Bhushan has challenged the government's refusal to reissue him a passport with full validity.
Filing an affidavit, an under secretary in the ministry of external affairs, said: "Passport Authority, despite the fact that criminal cases were pending against the petitioner (Bhushan), had never denied the passport facility to him and also at any point of time had no intention to impede, hamper or confine the movement of the petitioner."
Bhushan has contended that merely because a few criminal cases pertaining to being part of an unlawful assembly are pending against him, the government denied him a passport with full validity.
The advocate, also a founding member of India Against Corruption (IAC), had staged a protest in August 2012 against the coal scam. Though the protest was non-violent, police had registered a few cases against IAC members including Bhushan for participating in an assembly which was declared unlawful. The cases are pending in Patiala House court here , the plea said.
Bhushan has also argued that the one-year restriction on reissuing the passport is "arbitrary, unreasonable and also discriminatory" and thus in violation of the constitution's article 14 (equality before law).
As per the plea, Bhushan had applied for renewal/reissue of the passport to the regional passport office in 2014. The government had informed him that in order to get his passport renewed, he needs to first obtain a no objection certificate (NOC) from the court where criminal cases are pending against him.
Though the metropolitan magistrate at Patiala House Courts granted him an NOC, he did not specify the duration of validity of the passport, which led to Bhushan being issued the passport on September 12, 2014 - valid only till September 11, 2015.
The government said Bhushan's request for the re-issue of the passport with full validity cannot be acceded to unless the concerned court issues a fresh order in this regard.
The government argued that as per the 1993 notification, a person with a criminal case pending and who applies for the issue or reissue of a passport, has to first obtain a NOC from the court where the case is pending and if the court does not lay down any time period for renewal, then a passport of only one year validity would be issued.
The court posted the matter for April 15.
Rajan said to Rahul, 65 thousand crores will have to be spent to help the poor
The lockdown has been in force in the country for almost a month due to the Corona virus crisis. Everything is closed in the country, factories are locked, people are inside homes. This has had an
Weather Today: People will get relief from the heat in Delhi-UP today, it may rain in these states
Due to strong winds blowing in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh today, people can get relief from the heat. At the same time, rain or snowfall can also be seen in some hilly states. According to the
Modi said in SCO: Recent developments in Afghanistan are a big challenge, the root cause of these problems is increasing radicalism
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit meeting via video conferencing. During his address, he congratulated the people of Tajikistan on the
Dhanush-Aishwaryaa: There will be no fight in court between Dhanush and Aishwarya over children, mother will get custody!
South superstar Dhanush and Aishwarya Rajinikanth have filed their divorce petition in the family court of Chennai for separation. Earlier in the year 2022, Aishwarya Rajinikanth shared this with her
Sri Lanka Crisis: Army and police got a free hand to deal with the protesters, the crowd occupied the PM's office
Sri Lanka Crisis: The crisis continues in Sri Lanka. Emergency has been imposed in the entire country. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed as the acting President after
NEET Controversy: Two other accused arrested for removing the innerwear of NEET girl students
Proceedings are on in Kollam, Kerala for asking girl students to remove their innerwear for admission during the NEET exam. Now two other people have been arrested in this case. Both of them were
The Taliban excavated Mullah Omar's car: 21 years ago he was buried for fear of the US Army, now it will be kept in the National Museum
The car of Taliban founder Mullah Omar has been dug out of the ground by his fighters after 21 years. This is the same car in which Mullah Omar ran to escape the US after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. He
Lockdown: Retail sector devastated in last 60 days, loss of Rs 9 lakh crore
New Delhi: Due to the opening of only a few select shops in lockdown and the closure of everything else, the retail business has broken its back. According to the Confederation of All India Traders
Crude Oil: Germany spoke on India's oil purchase from Russia, we have nothing to do with
Germany's statement came out on India's policy of purchasing crude oil at a concessional rate from Russia. Let me tell you that German Ambassador to India, Philippian, clarified on Wednesday that
America gave visas to 36% more Indians this year: Said- India is the top priority for us, now visas of IT professionals will be renewed in the US
India is the number-1 one priority of the US in terms of getting an American visa. According to US visa officials, post-Covid visas are being processed 36% faster across the country. India is their
