Look-Out Circulars must be sparingly used and may be quashed absent material showing deliberate evasion; travel subject to court permission.

Look-out Circulars are coercive administrative measures limiting the right to travel and must be used sparingly; they are lawful only where tangible material shows deliberate evasion, proximate likelihood of absconding, or where exceptional national or systemic threats exist, and exceptional powers must be narrowly construed. Requests for LOCs from banks lack lawful foundation if based on mere commercial default or mere association without concrete complicity. Applying these principles, the existing LOCs were quashed; petitioners must give undertakings of continued cooperation and obtain prior trial-court permission for future foreign travel.

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Issues: Whether the Look-Out Circulars (LOCs) issued and continued at the instance of respondent banks against the petitioners are legally sustainable, and whether such LOCs should be quashed and permission to travel abroad granted.

Analysis: The Court examined the governing framework for issuance and continuation of LOCs, including Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the consolidated Office Memorandum dated 22.02.2021, and relevant precedents holding that LOCs are coercive executive measures affecting the fundamental right to travel and must be exercised sparingly and in accordance with law. The jurisprudence requires that LOCs ordinarily be limited to cases involving cognizable offences where tangible material shows deliberate evasion or a proximate likelihood of absconding, and that the exceptional power under Clause 6(L) of the Office Memorandum be narrowly construed for grave national or systemic threats. The Court reviewed authorities holding that requests for LOCs by principal officers of public sector banks lack lawful foundation and that mere commercial defaults or association with an accused, without concrete material of complicity, do not justify LOCs. Applying these principles to the record, the Court noted absence of material demonstrating that the petitioners were deliberately evading process, that their continued departure would threaten sovereignty, security, integrity, bilateral relations, or national economic interests in the exceptional sense required, and that the petitioners had cooperated and previously complied with conditions imposed by courts.

Conclusion: The Look-Out Circulars issued against the petitioners are quashed. The petitioners are directed to furnish undertakings to the trial Special Judges confirming continued cooperation and to obtain prior permission from the competent trial courts for future foreign travel.

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