Passport impounding must follow the Passports Act procedure; general criminal law cannot be used to retain a passport indirectly.

Passport retention was treated as distinct from impounding, and impounding could be done only by the passport authority under the Passports Act, 1967. The text states that police or court powers under general criminal procedure could not be used to achieve impounding indirectly by keeping the passport in custody or forwarding it in a manner that bypassed the statutory procedure. Because impounding has civil consequences, the competent authority must act in accordance with law and, where required, give an opportunity of hearing. On that basis, the direction to forward the passport was set aside and release of the passport was ordered, while leaving the Regional Passport Officer free to proceed under the Act.

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Issues: Whether a direction permitting retention of the passport and its forwarding to the Regional Passport Officer amounted to unauthorised impounding, and whether the passport had to be released to the appellant.

Analysis: The governing law treated seizure and impounding as distinct concepts. A passport could be impounded only by the passport authority under Section 10(3) of the Passports Act, 1967, and the retained document could not be kept in custody or forwarded in a manner that effectively achieved impounding without compliance with the statutory procedure. The power of the police or the Court under the general criminal procedure provisions could not override the special regime under the Passports Act. Since impounding has civil consequences, the statutory authority had to act in accordance with law and after affording an opportunity of hearing where required.

Conclusion: The direction to forward the passport to the Regional Passport Officer was set aside and the passport was ordered to be released forthwith to the appellant. It remained open to the Regional Passport Officer to initiate proceedings under Section 10(1) of the Passports Act, 1967 in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: A passport cannot be impounded, or effectively retained as impounded, except by the passport authority in accordance with the special procedure under the Passports Act, 1967; powers under the general criminal procedure law cannot be used to achieve that result.

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