Police verification for passports should be accomplished inside 4 weeks: Allahabad HC

Allahabad High Court, in an order, has directed that each one police verification studies for passport purposes should be accomplished and submitted inside 4 weeks.

A two-judge bench, comprising Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi, handed the above route, listening to a writ petition filed by one Rahimuddin and noticed that the passport delay is a hurdle to the fitting to journey.

The bench referred to the Citizen’s Charter (June 2025) issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The court docket highlighted that whereas an bizarre passport is anticipated to be issued inside 30 working days and reissued inside seven working days, each timelines exclude the interval taken for police verification.

“This shows that the MEA’s expected timeline does not stipulate any limit for the police verification stage,” added the court docket.

Against this backdrop, the court docket emphasised that the police division shall be certain that all verification information pertaining to passport purposes are processed with due diligence and accomplished inside 4 weeks with out undue delay (as per the time frame prescribed by the Ministry of External Affairs).

“Any delay in such administrative functions should be strictly avoided unless justified by exceptional circumstances. Delaying in police verification, which is an essential exercise for an accused, is creating a hurdle in realisation of the right to travel, especially in cases where reissuance of the passport is for a duration of one year”, the court docket additional remarked.

Apply for ‘no objection’

In its order to streamline your entire technique of issuance of a passport, the court docket directed that if a candidate finds the disposal of their purposes to be delayed, she or he ought to first reply to the discover. If they discover that their software for a passport has remained pending attributable to their implication in a felony case, they need to first apply for the mandatory no objection/sanction/approval from the court docket involved or the felony regulation court docket, because the case could also be.

The passport workplace must also not linger on their issues, as there could also be an urgency for a passport applicant.

The involved Regional Passport Officer, in all circumstances the place a passport can’t be issued, should inform the applicant concerning it inside a month of submission of the passport software.

As quickly as correct, no objection/sanction/approval is obtained and submitted, such officer ought to get rid of the passport software lastly inside an extra interval of a month, the court docket added.

However, the court docket made it clear that the police, in instances of purposes submitted for passports, should submit their report inside 4 weeks with out undue delay.