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PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad High Court has directed that all police verification reports for passport applications must be completed and submitted within four weeks. Disposing of a writ petition, a division bench comprising Justices Ajit Kumar and Swarupama Chaturvedi observed on Oct 10 that delay in this essential exercise creates a hurdle in realisation of the right to travel, especially in cases where reissuance is sought for only one year. The judges referred to the Citizen’s Charter (June 2025) issued by MEA while passing the order. HC highlighted that while an ordinary passport is expected to be issued within 30 working days and reissued within seven working days, both timelines exclude the period taken for police verification. This, the bench said, shows MEA’s expected timeline does not stipulate any limit for the police verification stage. Against this backdrop, the court emphasised the police department must ensure that all verification files pertaining to passport applications are processed with due diligence and completed within four weeks without undue delay. “Any delay in such administrative functions should be strictly avoided unless justified by exceptional circumstances,” the HC said. HC also issued key directions to passport applicants, instructing that if a candidate finds the disposal of their applications delayed, they should first reply to the notice. If they find that their passport application has remained pending due to their implication in a criminal case, they should first apply for a necessary no objection/sanction/approval from the court concerned or a criminal law court, as the case may be. The passport office should not delay processing, as the document may be urgent for the applicant. The concerned regional passport officer, in all circumstances where the passport cannot be issued, must inform the applicant within a month of the application’s submission. As soon as proper, no objection/sanction/approval is obtained and submitted, officials must dispose of the application within a further period of a month, HC added.
