Courts can’t decide on passport validity time in criminal cases, rules Calcutta High Court

The court further clarified in the 5 August order that “the court’s role in the passport issuance or renewal process is limited to ensure that the individual seeking a passport has not been prohibited from leaving the country under specific orders of the court, such as bail conditions. However, beyond this, the court is not required to intervene in determining the duration of a passport’s validity.”

Justice Krishna Rao observed that even if the passport was renewed, the man would not be able to travel abroad without the permission of the trial court.

The man, who was an accused in a corruption case before a trial court in Ranchi, had deposited his passport with the trial court as directed by an order of the Supreme Court. The man alleged that since his passport was about to expire, he filed a plea on September 17, 2025, before the trial court asking for his passport to be released and permission to travel abroad.

On October 9, 2025, the trial court released the passport of the man on undertaking that he would not misuse the passport and would not travel abroad without permission of the trial court. The man was also directed to surrender the passport within five days from the date of its renewal.

After release of the passport, the man applied for its renewal on October 17, 2025, and also disclosed to the authorities that corruption cases were pending against him. By a communication dated November 3, 2025, the authorities asked the man to get a court order specifically allowing him to travel abroad by mentioning the validity period of the passport for processing of the renewal application.

‘Renewal on merits’

The high court noted that insisting on specific directions from the court for determining the duration of a passport was neither given in the law nor was it supported by any rules. According to the high court, the “judicial function” of the court was to evaluate whether a person must be stopped from travelling abroad because of a pending court case. The high court held that “if the Court imposes no such restriction and merely states that travel abroad shall require prior permission, the Passport Authority must proceed in accordance with law, treating the application for renewal on its merits.”

The high court observed that even if the passport was renewed, the man would not be able to leave India without taking permission of the trial court, and the passport would remain with the trial court. Hence, the court directed that “it would be appropriate that instead of renewal of passport of the petitioner only for one year, the passport authorities shall renew the passport of the petitioner for a normal period of 10 years” within three weeks from receiving the judgment.

The high court also ordered the man that after the renewal of the passport, he should “strictly comply” with the orders passed by the trial Court and surrender the passport within five days from the day it is renewed by the passport authority.

‘Wrongly denied’

Senior Advocate Abhrajit Mitra and advocate Anurag Bagaria, appearing for the man, submitted that the authorities had wrongly denied issuing a regular passport to the man with a validity of 10 years. The counsel also urged that the trial court had “expressly” permitted the man to renew the passport and directed him to submit it within 5 days from the renewal. Therefore, the authorities could not sit as an “appellate authority” over the order passed by the trial court by imposing additional conditions.

The counsel also contended that the Passports Act normally issues a passport for 10 years and permits a shorter duration only for valid reasons, but no convincing reason was given by the authorities for restricting the validity of the passport.

Senior Advocate Kumar Jyoti Tewari and advocate Md Shakil, representing the authorities concerned, submitted that the order of the trial court did not contain any specified period and that they had informed the man that, according to the 1993 notification, a passport with one year validity can be issued to him.