Travelling abroad a fundamental right, can’t deny passport renewal over address dispute, says Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court ordered the Regional Passport Officer, Mumbai to renew the passports of a woman and her two sons, which were previously denied by the Passport authority owing to objections raised by the woman’s brother-in-law over the address mentioned by them in the passport application. 

A bench comprising Justice AS Chandurkar and Justice Firdosh P. Pooniwalla stated that a person cannot be deprived of his/her fundamental right to travel abroad on the ground that there is a dispute in respect of the property which is mentioned in the address given by the applicant for the purposes of including it in the passport.

The Bombay High Court clarified that the petitioner’s address in the passport would not by itself confer on them any right in respect of the said property so as to prejudice the brother-in-law in any way. The High Court further observed that the right to travel abroad is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Hence, no person can be deprived of this right except according to the procedure established by law as laid down in the Passports Act, 1967.

Reports said that the Passport Authority had refused to renew the passports of Rajinder Kaur and her two sons on the ground that there was an objection raised by the woman’s brother-in-law Gurvinder Chanan Singh Layal over the address mentioned by them in their passport applications.

The petitioner’s brother-in-law had contended that the address belonged to a room standing in his name and there was an ongoing property dispute regarding the same. Nonetheless, the court underlined that the right to the property can be protected by making it clear that mention of the address in the passports will not confer any title rights to the appellants.

The High Court directed the Regional Passport Officer, Mumbai to issue passports to the petitioners in accordance with the provisions of the Passports Act and the Passports Rules, without going into the merits of the objection as raised by Gurvinder Chanan Singh Layal.

The court ruled that the ground cited by the Passport Authority for refusal is arbitrary and without jurisdiction. It also stated that the Passports Act does not contain any provision that enables refusal on the ground mentioned.

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