PRAYAGRAJ, Nov. 5 -- The Allahabad high court has observed that if a competent court grants a no-objection certificate (NoC) or permission for travelling abroad to a person accused in a criminal case, without specifying the duration for which the passport may be issued, the passport authority is justified in granting a passport valid for only one year. The bench comprising Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi recently observed so while disposing of a plea seeking reissuance of a 10-year passport based on an NoC granted by the chief judicial magistrate, Pilibhit. The bench observed, "Where no specific period is stated in the order of the competent court, the passport may be issued for one year at a time and the said period can be extended by way of renewal as per law if the application is made before the authorities, provided that the applicant has not yet travelled abroad during the court-sanctioned period and that the court's order has not been modified or revoked in the meantime." A criminal case under Section 447 of the IPC and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 was pending against the petitioner, Rahimuddin. Earlier, the petitioner had approached the CJM court for a passport and was subsequently granted an NoC on October 10, 2024. Following this, the Regional Passport Office, Bareilly, issued a passport valid for one year (January 20, 2025 to January 19, 2026). However, the petitioner later sought renewal for a full 10-year period. He argued that once permission had been granted by the competent court, the statutory period prescribed under the Passport Act, 1967, should apply. The passport authority, however, contended that since the court order did not specify any duration for which the passport was to be issued, the validity was rightly restricted to one year in line with the Notification dated August 25, 1993, issued by the ministry of external affairs (MEA)....