Chennai: Madras high court has laid a four-week ultimatum for the Chennai regional passport office to dispose of the passport application of A G Perarivalan, the released life convict in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
His application was pending with the authorities for over 2 years, according to the petitioner.
“Considering the fact that the petitioner has been set at liberty by the Supreme Court , the reluctance on the part of the passport authority to process the petitioner’s passport application, solely on the ground that they were awaiting the report of the police department is not correct,” Justice P T Asha said. The court passed the order on a plea moved Perarivalan seeking expeditious disposal of his pending passport application. The court then directed the passport authorities to consider the counter affidavit filed by the Jolarpettai police as the police verification report and dispose of the petitioner’s application.
Citing an order passed by the full bench of the Supreme Court in Jawahar Rajan case, the court said the Supreme Court had made it clear that the pendency of a criminal case would not be an absolute bar to the issuance of a passport. He added that this prolonged, unexplained inaction by the authorities is causing him grave hardship, especially as it delays his plan to travel abroad for higher studies.