Former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy got relief in Andhra Pradesh High Court with regard to renewal of his passport. While the People’s Representatives Court limited the passport renewal to one year, the AP High Court ordered it to increase to five years.
But as ordered by the Vijayawada Court, it made it clear that Jagan himself should go to the People’s Court to pay a surety of Rs 20,000. The court also said that all the other conditions imposed by the trial court will remain the same. However, full clarity of the court verdict comes after receiving the High Court order.
It may be recalled that Jaganmohan Reddy was forced to postpone his scheduled London tour, which was intended from September 3, due to the PassPort issue. Earlier, he used to go abroad on a diplomatic passport being a Chief Minister until recently.
However, after losing power he surrendered his diplomatic passport and applied for a normal passport for five years, for which he had obtained clearance from CBI Special Court, where he is facing several cases. The court ordered for renewal of his normal passport for a period of five years.
When Jagan contacted the regional passport office in Vijayawada to renew his passport, the officials suggested that he should get clearance from Vijayawada People’s Representatives Court also, as a defamation case registered against Jagan is pending there.
Then, the former chief minister approached Vijayawada People’s Representative Court for NOC. The court ordered that Jagan’s passport be renewed only for one year. It also sought his appearance with Rs. 20,000 self-bond.
YS Jagan approached the AP High Court against the conditions imposed by the Court. He said that these conditions are not reasonable and sought to renew his passport for five years.
After hearing both sides’ arguments on Monday, the High Court said it will announce its decision on Wednesday. It has ordered the renewal of YS Jagan’s passport for five years. With this, the obstacles to YS Jagan’s trip to London have almost been removed.
