Appeal against Refusal of Passport
The Appellate Authority under the Passports Act, 1967 is the Central Passport Organization, a subordinate office of the Ministry of External Affairs, headed by Joint Secretary and Chief Passport Officer.
- An appeal can be made against the order of the Passport Authority or any other body to which the Passport body is subordinate to by an aggrieved person. This can be made under Section 11 of the Passport Act, 1967. An appeal against an order made by the Central Government is not permitted.
- An appeal made after the expiry of the prescribed period is not admissible unless the appellant satisfies the appellate authority that he had sufficient reason for not preferring an appeal within that period.
- In order to file an appeal under this section a petition must be made in writing and is accompanied by a a copy of the statement of the reasons for the order appealed against where such copy has been furnished to the appellant.
- The appellate authority has to follow the prescribed procedure. No appeal is disposed of until the appellant is given a reasonable opportunity of presenting his or her case.
- An order of the appellate authority confirming, modifying or reversing the order appealed against is final.
In case an appeal has been filed under Section 11 of the Passport Act against the appellate authority against grounds mentioned under Section 6 of the Passport Act and has been dismissed, a writ petition can be filed in the High Court regarding the same under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India.
Write petition against refusal of Passport
The Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case of Manjit Kaur Dhaliwal vs Union Of India & Anr (2019) held that an appeal under Section 11 of the Passport Act, 1967 must be filed before invoking the Jurisdiction of the High Court through a writ petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India.
Delay in grant of Passport by Appellate Authority
It was held by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case of Dharam Singh vs Passport Seva Kendra Jalandhar (15 July, 2019) that if the Passport Appellate Authority has approved the grant of the Passport and delay is caused by the Passport Office, the petitioner can approach the Court by filing a writ petition. The Court can direct the Passport Office to take action within a limited time period.
VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 13 OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS:- The Apex court in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India 1978 (1) SCC 248, in para 45 (at page 322 of SCC), pointed out that refusal or impounding a passport interferes with a fundamental human right recognized in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is being reproduced as under:-
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
CONCLUSION
It has been seen in a number of cases that sometimes the NRI’s face extreme difficulties in getting their passport renewed due to the non clearance being given by the competent authority and thus the applications for renewal of the passport are kept pending for months/years and as result undue harassment is faced by the NRI’s. Thus it is imperative to follow the proper legal procedure/channel to get your passport renewed within a specific time frame.