J&K HC Declines to Direct Centre to Issue Passport to Mehbooba Mufti; Says Power of the Court Limited
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The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Monday declined to direct the Centre to issue a passport to former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
A single-judge bench of Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey said Mufti had no absolute right to demand a passport in her favour.
This followed after the passport office refused to issue a passport to Mufti citing her case as ‘Not recommended passport case’ in light of the Police Verification Report (PVR) received from the Additional Director General of Police, J&K CID.
“In such circumstances, I am of the considered view that no direction can be issued by this Court for issuance of passport in favour of the petitioner. Even otherwise, the scope of this Court in the matter of grant or otherwise of passport in favour of an individual is very limited inasmuch as the Court, in this behalf, can only direct the concerned authorities to expeditiously consider the case of an individual in the light of the mandate of the scheme of law governing the subject”, Justice Magrey held.
Mufti had approached the court against the inaction of the police in not sending its verification report to the regional passport office to issue her a passport. She had sought directions to the Centre to issue a passport in her favour expeditiously and to declare the actions of the respondents in not allowing the petitioner to travel abroad as illegal and unconstitutional violating, her fundamental right to travel abroad.
Read order here.
This article was first published in The Leaflet.
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