Law:

Section:

Natural justice-Opportunity of hearing-Privilege or licence granted by State to its citizen-Cannot betaken away arbitrarily without following principles of natural justice-State granting passport to a citizen-Not competent to cancel or confiscate it Without giving holder of passport an opportunity of hearing-­Whether a citizen has a legal right to issuance of passport [Quaere]. Under present day conditions it is difficult to visualize a situation in which a citizen can go out of the country without a valid passport. It is, no doubt, for the State in its discretion to decide, in the absence of any fundamental right to free travel, as to whether a passport should be issued or not, but once the State has in the exercise of its discretion issued a passport, it cannot arbitrarily confiscate it without assigning any reason and without giving any opportunity to the holder of the passport to represent his point of view. Different considerations apply to the grant of a privilege and the withdrawal of the same after it has been granted. The grantee acquires a right to the enjoyment of the privilege in accordance with and subject to the terms and conditions of the grant and this right cannot be taken away during the term of the grant save for a cause. Hence the necessity for giving the grantee a notice to show cause and an opportunity of being heard in order to prevent an arbitrary or capricious withdrawal of the privilege. The grantee has a right to insist that the withdrawal even of a privilege is made in accordance with law. Manzoor Khan v. Govt. of Pakistan P L D 1966 Pesh. 29 considered. Satwant Singh v. A. P. O., New Delhi A I R 1967 S C 1836 ; Rockwell Kent v. John Foster Dulles 357 U S.116 and Faridspns v. Pakistan P L D 1962 S C 537 ref. Muzajfar Hassan, Advocate-on-Record for Appellants. Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim, Advocate Supreme Court instructed by Yusaf Rafi, Advocate- on-Record for Respondents. Date of hearing : 3rd November 1971. JUDGMENT HAMOODUR RAHMAN, C: J.-This appeal by the Government is directed against a judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Sind & Baluchistan at Karachi, whereby an order cancelling the passports held by the respondents…

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