IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI ANIL R. DAVE AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY WRIT PETITION No.7955 of 2007 Between: Prabeer Kumar Sikdar, S/o. Vinay Kumar Sikdar, R/o. Adilabad, Now Residing at Room No.8, E2 Hostel, Osmania University Campus, Hyderabad. ...Petitioner And 1. The Regional Passport Officer, O/o. Regional Passport Office, Kummaraguda, Secunderabad. 2. The Chief Passport Officer, O/o. Ministry of External Affairs, Room No.20, First Floor, Patiala House Annexure, New Delhi. 3. The Chief Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Central Government, Secretariat Building, New Delhi. ...Respondents Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ, of Mandamus or another appropriate writ order or direction declaring the inaction of the 1st Respondent of not taking any action to remove the middlemen, brokers, touts, Annas' and their own staﬀ who are creating the public oﬃce as their money making business center in the issuance of pass port and of not allowing the applicants to apply on their own for the passport is illegal, arbitrary and against the principles of natural justice and further directing the Respondent Nos.1 to 3 to restore the peaceful atmosphere as Government oﬃce alone by removing the direct approach of middleman while applying the passport by strict observance of issuing the passport within 30 days of the application, award costs of the petition to the petitioner herein and pass any other order or orders as may deem ﬁt and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the petitioner : Smt. T.H. Sowbhagya Lakshmi Counsel for the respondents : Sri A. Rajasekhar Reddy Assistant Solicitor General The Court made the following: ORDER: (Per Anil R. Dave, C.J.) In this public interest litigation, the petitioner has approached this Court with a grievance that middlemen, brokers, touts etc. are inﬂuencing the oﬃcers of the Regional Passport Oﬃce in the matter of issuance of passports. It has been submitted by the learned Advocate appearing for the petitioner that by engaging such brokers, middlemen etc., a person can get his passport early, but the said practice is not proper. Impliedly, it has been alleged in the petition that such middlemen encourage corruption. Learned Assistant Solicitor General has ﬁled a counter aﬃdavit stating that there is no practice with regard to having any middlemen, agents etc. It has been submitted that previously there was a practice with regard to appointment of agents, but the said practice has now been abolished. In the circumstances, it has been submitted that no middlemen or agents work as intermediary in the matter of procurement of a passport. In view of the counter aﬃdavit, it is clear that the averments made in the petition, which is in the nature of public interest litigation, are not correct. In the circumstances, the petition is dismissed. ANIL R. DAVE, C.J. 1st September, 2008 R. SUBHASH REDDY, J. ……REGISTRAR To 1. The Regional Passport Oﬃcer, O/o. Regional Passport Office, Kummaraguda, Secunderabad. 2. The Chief Passport Oﬃcer, O/o. Ministry of External Affairs, Room No.20, First Floor, Patiala House Annexure, New Delhi. 3. The Chief Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Central Government, Secretariat Building, New Delhi. 4. One copy to Sri A. Rajasekhar Reddy, Asst. Solicitor General, High Court Buildings, Hyderabad (OPUC). 5.Two CD copies. ARS