Passport Officer Cannot Act As Mouthpiece of J&K CID: High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has pulled up authorities for denying passport to PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s mother, saying the passport officer cannot ”act as a mouthpiece” of the CID. Justice M A Chowdhary, while hearing the petition of Mehbooba’s mother Gulshan Nazir, said it appears, there is no ground to refuse her request for issue or renewal of passport.”Even, there is not an iota of allegation against the petitioner that may point out to any security concerns.

The police verification report formulated by CID-CIK cannot override the statutory provisions of Section 6 of the Passport Act 1967,” the judge said in an order pronounced on Saturday.

The court said otherwise also, in the report relied upon by the respondents –the passport officer and the appellant authority — nothing adverse has been recorded against the petitioner with regard to any security concerns.

”The only aspect with regard to the petitioner is the reference of investigation by two agencies Enforcement Directorate and the CID-CIK with regard to some of the transactions regarding some bank accounts maintained by the petitioner either separately or jointly with Ms. Mehbooba Mufti,” it said.Simply on the basis of the report of the Jammu and Kashmir Crime Investigation Department (CID) that has recommended that passport should not be issued, the passport officer, under the provisions of the Passport Act, cannot ”shut his eyes and to act on that”, the court said.

Coming down heavily on authorities, it said since the passport applied for by the petitioner has not been issued as the same was not recommended for security clearance by the CID, the decision taken by both – the passport officer as well as the appellant authority – ”is misplaced on account of security”.

The court said the refusal by the passport officer was ”non-application of mind”.