MP John Brittas expressed strong objection to stopping passport renewal!

Rajya Sabha member Dr. John Brittas met Foreign Minister Dr. S. Has written a letter to Jaishankar demanding immediate personal intervention in the matter of refusal of passport renewal of senior journalist Rajgopal Ramdas. He has said that removal of name from the voter list during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal cannot be an automatic ground for stopping passport renewal.

Dr. Brittas, in a detailed memorandum sent to the External Affairs Minister, said that this matter is not limited to the problem of just one person, but it raises important legal questions related to the Passport Act, 1967, the right to travel abroad under Article 21 of the Constitution and the relationship between citizenship and electoral laws.

In his letter, he raised the question whether deletion of a person’s name from the voters’ list, especially when the matter is subject to legal challenge, can be made a valid ground for denying passport renewal. He said that Parliament has not recognized deletion of name from the electoral roll as a disqualification of a person under the Passport Act.

The MP also asked whether a statutory authority can take a decision within its own jurisdiction based on a decision taken by another authority under another law. He said that the rights and procedures of institutions working under different laws cannot be made substitutes for each other.

The memorandum states that Rajagopal Ramdas was issued an Indian passport in the year 2005 and the same was also renewed in the year 2015 after all necessary legal procedures. Dr. Brittas raised the question whether denying passport renewal merely on the basis of deletion of name from the voter list does not indirectly raise questions on the Ministry’s earlier decisions?

Referring to the Supreme Court’s landmark judgments in the Satwant Singh Sawhney and Maneka Gandhi cases, he said the power to issue or withhold a passport can be exercised only under the provisions of the Passport Act, 1967. Also, such decisions should be in accordance with the principles of fairness, reasonableness and due process enshrined in the Constitution.

Dr. Brittas has demanded the Ministry of External Affairs to issue clear guidelines that removal of name from the voter list under the SIR process or pending action related to it, in itself should not be considered a legal basis for stopping passport renewal.

He said that this matter is related to the credibility of official documents issued by the Government of India and the trust of the citizens. He urged the Ministry to review the case as per the provisions of the Passport Act, 1967 and not to rely on administrative findings recorded under any other legal regime in place of an independent legal investigation.