Passport - Power To Impound And Seize

Freedom of movement is a Constitutional right. A citizen is given the liberty to travel, work and reside at any place where he or she wants. The same can be curtailed only as per the procedure established by law. As there was no law in terms of Article 21 of the Constitution and as there was no law establishing such procedure, the government had no right to refuse a passport to any person who might have applied for the same. In such a scenario it was observed that government's claim of absolute discretion in the matter of issuance of passport was considered to be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. For these reasons it became urgently important to regulate the issuance of passport and travel documents by law. As parliament was not in session, an ordinance namely the Passports Ordinance was promulgated by the President of India. To replace the ordinance of 1967 the Passports Bill was introduced in the Parliament. The Passports Bill having passed by both