PRAYAGRAJ, Nov. 11 -- The Allahabad high court has directed the authorities concerned that all police verification reports for passport applications must be completed and submitted within four weeks.To ensure efficiency and accountability in the issuance of passports, the court mandated so, as it noted that delays in this essential exercise were creating a hurdle in the realisation of the right to travel of accused persons, especially in cases where reissuance was sought for only one year. The court said that if an applicant found that his application for a passport has remained pending for his implication in a criminal case, then he should first apply for the necessary no-objection/sanction/approval from the court concerned or criminal law court, as the case may be. The passport office should also not linger on their matters as there may be an urgency for a passport applicant. "The concerned regional passport officer, in all circumstances where a passport cannot be issued, must inform the applicant about it within a month of the submission of the passport application. As soon as proper, no objection/sanction/approval is obtained and submitted, such officer should dispose of the application finally within a further period of a month", the court added. The bench, comprising Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi, made these observations while disposing of a writ petition filed by one Rahimuddin. The court said that while an ordinary passport was expected to be issued within 30 working days and reissuance to take place within seven working days, both timelines excluded the period taken for police verification. The court said that this showed that the MEA's expected timeline did not stipulate any limit for the police verification stage.htc...