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HC relief for man denied passport over wrong verification

Mumbai: Granting relief to a Chembur resident, Bombay high court recently directed the regional passport office (RPO) to reissue him a passport after it had rejected his application on a wrong police verification report that he had a pending criminal case when it was only a civil case.

“We make it clear that the application for re-issuance of passport shall not be rejected on the basis that a civil case is pending against the petitioner,” said Justices Burgess Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla in the July 4 order.

Exalt D’souza (57) had applied for renewal of his passport. On July 10, 2020 the RPO, Bandra (E) wrote, seeking clarification on the police verifica- tion report that there is a criminal case pending trial against him before the civil judge, Mapusa, Goa. The passport office also wrote that if his explanation were unsatisfactory, he would be denied the passport.

On Aug 4, 2020 D’souza visited RPO and showed the case papers. RPO sent the papers to Chembur police to clear. D’souza requested the police to rectify their error. On Aug 20, 2020 he received RPO’s letter that cited the pending case and said a courtorder and undertaking would be required. TNN

Passport RPO Case High Court