The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to Centre for blocking the renewal of passport of noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan over pending cases against him for staging protests at Jantar Mantar on the issue of coal scam three years ago.
The Regional Passport office of Ghaziabad was ready to renew his passport for one year instead of regular ten years even after he produced No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Patiala House Court where the FIR was registered against him.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher issued notice to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)and Regional Passport Officer (RPO) on the plea of Bhushan, while posting the matter for further hearing on March 16. His passport is valid till May 2016 and pages were full due to his frequent travel abroad. So in June 2014 he applied for a renewal of the passport, which is normally done for ten years from the date of application.
“It is very ironic. If the petitioner’s passport would have enough pages, why would he have come to you (MEA and RPO)IJ If someone holds a valid passport but against him some minor traffic violation case is filed, then can you stop subsequent re-issue of his passportIJ” the judge asked.
The court noted “only if a court impounds the passport or puts restrictions on foreign travel, only then passport validity can be restricted”.