Delhi court to pass order on Rahul Gandhi's passport plea later in day

ADelhi court will pass later in the day an order on the application of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a no-objection certificate for issuance of an ”ordinary passport” after he surrendered his diplomatic passport upon his disqualification as an MP.

Gandhi is an accused in the National Herald case in which BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is the complainant.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vaibhav Mehta on Friday morning reserved the order after hearing the arguments, during which Swamy opposed the application, saying it was ”devoid of any merit” and that the passport should be issued only for one year and renewed every year.

“It is special case. The passport should not be issued for ten years. It seems wrong,” he told the court.

Swamy also contended that Gandhi’s citizenship was under question since he had a British citizenship.

The submission was opposed by Gandhi’s advocate Tarannum Cheema, who claimed that two petitions asking criminal proceedings on citizenship issues has already been dismissed by the higher courts. She urged the court to allow the passport to be issued for ten years since such relief has been granted by the higher courts in cases with much graver offences and in the present case, not even charges are framed. The National Herald case is based on a private criminal complaint of Swamy against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others, accusing them of cheating, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.