BRAHAM PAL SINGH GAUTAM Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) With the consent of the parties, the matter is taken up for final disposal.

(2.) The petitioner is seeking the quashing of the impounding circular/order dated 10.11.2003, bearing No. VI/405/2/82/03 whereby the petitioner's passport No. E-1258052 dated 21.3.2002 issued by the Regional passport Office, New Delhi has been ordered to be impounded under the provision of Section 10(3) (a), (b) and (c) of the Passport Act, 1967 (hereinafter referred to as the said Act).

(3.) Prior to the passing of the impounding circular, a show cause notice dated 15.10.2003 had been issued to the petitioner requiring him to show cause as to why the passport should not be impounded under Section 10 (3)(b) of the said Act on the allegation that while applying for the passport which was impounded i.e. passport E-1258052 dated 21.3.2002, the petitioner had not disclosed the factum of his official passport No. O-103585 dated 05.02.2001 in the application form. As such, it was alleged that the petitioner was guilty of suppression and, therefore, the petitioner's passport was liable to be impounded in view of the provisions of the said Act. By a reply dated 23.10.2003, the petitioner stated that the official passport No. O-103585 dated 05.02.2001 had been lost in London while he was travelling by bus from the Shopping Centre in Stratford. It was stated that information of the loss of the passport along with other bank cards etc was duly lodged with the police and the same was submitted to the High Commission of India, London along with all the relevant documents. It was also indicated in the reply that after the loss of the official passport, the petitioner was issued an Emergency Certificate on which he travelled to India in February 2002. It was further disclosed that while in India, the petitioner applied for an ordinary passport and upon this application, the petitioner was issued the now impounded passport. In the said reply, the petitioner further apologised for the non-disclosure of the emergency certificate and of the official passport in the following terms: