BHIMANADHAM BHARAT REDDY Vs. UNION GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ Petition was filed seeking the following relief:

(2.) Case of the petitioner, in brief, is that the petitioner herein is the Director-cum-Chairman of the Southern Indian Institute of Medical Sciences. The said Institution has a number of branches all over the State of Andhra Pradesh. The petitioner is now planning to expand across the country by approaching international institutions to recruit staff from colleges outside India so as to meet higher standards of education. The petitioner proposes to engage Ph.D. holders for his institution by approaching them in different countries to conduct classes in his institutions. In order to meet the said requirements, the petitioner approached respondent No. 2 for renewal of his passport. However, respondent No. 2 renewed the passport of the petitioner only for a validity period of one year despite the directions issued by the learned IV Additional Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge for Trial of Cases under the SCs and STs (PoA) Act, Guntur, in Crl.M.P. No. 1008 of 2025 in S.C. No. 125 of 2022. The petitioner herein filed the said application before the learned Special Judge seeking renewal of the passport for a period of ten years, and the learned Special Judge, after considering the submissions made and the material on record, directed the Regional Passport Officer to renew the passport of the petitioner. Be that as it may, the passport authorities have renewed the passport of the petitioner only for a period of one year under the guise of a pending criminal case against the petitioner. Hence, the present Writ Petition is filed seeking renewal of the petitioner's passport for a period of ten years.

(3.) During arguments, learned counsel for the Writ Petitioner reiterated the contentions raised in the Writ Petition affidavit.