New Delhi: Rouse Avenue court on Friday granted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a no-objection certificate for issuance of an “ordinary passport” to him after he surrendered his diplomatic passport upon his disqualification as an MP.
“I’m partly allowing your application. Not for 10 years but three years,” the judge told Gandhi’s lawyer, a news agency reported.
The Congress leader, whose sentence has been suspended in the defamation case filed over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname, had moved the court seeking a no-objection certificate on Tuesday.
However, Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy opposed the plea saying that if the former MP is allowed to travel abroad, it may hamper the ongoing probe in the National Herald case.
Gandhi is an accused in the National Herald case in which former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy is the complainant.
The court asked Swamy to file his reply by Friday to Gandhi’s plea. Earlier, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vaibhav Mehta observed the right to travel is a fundamental right and courts had placed no restrictions on the movement of the Congress leader who travelled several times without having to obtain permission. (with Agency inputs)
