J-K HC dismisses Mehbooba Mufti's plea on passport

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Monday dismissed the petition of PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti seeking the Court's direction for issuance of her passport.

The High Court bench said, "I do not find any reason to interfere with the course of action adopted by the respondents in this case, as a sequel thereto, the petition of the petitioner is dismissed".

"I am of the considered view that no direction can be issued by this Court for issuance of a passport in favour of the petitioner. Even otherwise, the scope of this Court in the matter of grant or otherwise of passport in favour of an individual is very limited in as much as the Court, in this behalf, can only direct the concerned authorities to expeditiously consider the case of an individual in the light of the mandate of the scheme of law governing the subject." the bench added.

However, Court also noted that the respondents have already undertaken the said exercise in tune with the mandate of the scheme of law by, firstly, seeking a report from the Police/CID authorities, and, thereafter, passing the order in tune with such recommendations of the police/CID authorities.

Earlier on Monday, Mufti took Twitter to express her grievances against the Union Territory administration for not issuing a passport to her as well as her mother.

"Passport Office refused to issue my passport based on CID's report citing it as 'detrimental to the security of India. This is the level of normalcy achieved in Kashmir since Aug 2019 that an ex-Chief Minister holding a passport is a threat to the sovereignty of a mighty nation," tweeted Mufti.

"The passport office has also rejected my mother's passport application. CID claims that my mother who is well into her seventies is a 'threat to national security' and therefore does not deserve a passport. The government of India is employing absurd methods to harass and punish me for not toeing their line," she added.

( With inputs from ANI )