https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=349137 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. en-us Fri, 22 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0530 Sat, 07 Oct 2017 08:58:28 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=349137 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. Case-Laws Indian Laws Fri, 22 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=349137