MAHESH KUMAR AGARWAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Liberty, in our constitutional scheme, is not a gift of the State but its first obligation. The freedom of a citizen to move, to travel, to pursue livelihood and opportunity, subject to law, is an essential part of the guarantee under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The State may, where statute so provides, regulate or restrain that freedom in the interests of justice, security or public order but such restraint must be narrowly confined to what is necessary, proportionate to the object sought to be achieved, and clearly anchored in law. When procedural safeguards are converted into rigid barriers, or temporary disabilities are allowed to harden into indefinite exclusions, the balance between the power of the State and the dignity of the individual is disturbed, and the promise of the Constitution is put at risk.

(3.) The present appeal arises from the judgment and order dtd. 4/4/2025 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court at Calcutta in APOT No. 215 of 2024, affirming the judgment and order dtd. 15/5/2024 passed by the learned Single Judge in WPO No. 352 of 2024. By the said order, the learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition filed by the appellant seeking a direction to the respondents, namely the Union of India through the Ministry of External Affairs and the Regional Passport Office, Kolkata (hereinafter "RPO, Kolkata "), to renew his ordinary passport which had expired on 28/8/2023. The Division Bench upheld the legal reasoning of the learned Single Judge, but left it open to the appellant to approach the High Court of Delhi and the Court of the Additional Judicial Commissioner XVI-cum-Special Judge, National Investigation Agency1, Ranchi, for appropriate directions.