Bombay HC directs renewal of Lodha’s passport for 10 years

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently directed the regional passport office to renew state minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha’s passport for 10 years, as against the two-year renewal as directed by a magistrate, considering the nature of ‘unlawful assembly’ offence registered against him in 2020. 

On June 18, 2022, the Sewri magistrate had passed an order directing Lodha’s passport renewal for two years due to a case registered against him at Sion police station for unlawful assembly, rioting and negligent act likely to spread infectious diseases (as it was during the Covid pandemic). 

Passport expired in June 2021

Hearing Lodha’s petition challenging the order, Justice Amit Borkar observed, “Considering the nature of offence… the learned Magistrate ought to have assigned reasons…”

After his passport expired on June 3, 2021, Lodha sought its renewal. During police verification, he was orally informed that he will have to get an NOC from the magistrate as there was an FIR pending against him. Following the NOC, the passport authority renewed his passport for a year, from October 2021 to October 2022. He once again approached the magistrate, which directed the passport office to renew the document for two years. 

He filed a petition in the HC, through his advocate Amogh Singh, contending that the magistrate’s order is “illegal, arbitrary and against the well-established principles of law”. Singh argued that because of the magistrate’s order, the MLA cannot obtain visas to travel abroad for business and government purposes such as meeting delegates and attending conferences on behalf of the state due to limited validity of the passport. Singh cited an earlier order of the HC, wherein it was observed: “...  All qualifying applicants are entitled to have their passport renewed for at least 10 years.”

However, advocate DP Singh, appearing for the Union government and the passport office, justified the order of renewal for two years. The HC directed the passport office to renew the document for 10 years, subject to the petitioner satisfying other requirements under the Act and its rules.