Delhi court allows Rahul Gandhi to obtain fresh passport for three years
Rahul Gandhi had surrendered his diplomatic passport following his disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP.
A Delhi court on Friday granted a No Objection Certificate for the issuance of a fresh normal passport. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Mehta of Rouse Avenue Court said the NOC will be valid for three years instead of the 10-year validity that Rahul had sought through his counsel.
The development comes after Rahul approached the court seeking a NOC for a regular passport after he surrendered his diplomatic passport following disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP.
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“I’m partly allowing your application. Not for 10 years, but three years,” the court said while granting the NOC.
Rahul had moved the court in connection with the National Herald case wherein he and his mother Sonia Gandhi were granted bail in December 2015. Rahul’s counsel argued that the court had set no conditions on his travel while granting bail.
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However, former MP Subramanian Swamy opposed the application stating that Rahul had no valid reasons to be allowed a passport for 10 years. Swamy, in his objection, said Rahul should be allowed an NOC only for one year which should be subject to review annually.
“The Application is devoid of any merit for issuance of Passport for 10 years. That it is humbly submitted, this Hon’ble Court, may exercise the discretion to grant permission after scrutinizing and analyzing all other correlated matters in deciding on the litigation of the Applicant in the broad spectrum of areas of justice and law,” Swamy said in his response to the application filed by Rahul.
“The right to hold a passport, like all other Fundamental Rights, is not an absolute Right and is subject to reasonable restrictions imposed by the Government in the interest of national security, public order, morality, and prevention of crime,” he added.