HC orders passport applications of expat Bangladeshis cleared within 60 days

The High Court today directed the Department of Immigration and Passports to dispose of all pending applications filed by Bangladeshis living abroad for new passports and passport renewals within 60 days.

The court asked the department's director general and project director to comply with the order and submit a compliance report within 90 days.

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In response to a writ petition, the HC also directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a circular within 21 days instructing all Bangladeshi embassies and high commissions abroad to promptly forward expatriate Bangladeshis' applications for new passports and passport renewals to the Department of Immigration and Passports for processing.

The bench of Justice Md Habibul Gani and Justice Syed Mohammed Tazrul Hossain issued the order following a writ petition filed in the public interest by Supreme Court Advocates Mohammad Sarwar Ahad Chowdhury, Ripan Barai and Mahbubul Islam on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) seeking necessary directives.

The petition was filed after media reports alleged that applications submitted by expatriate Bangladeshis for new passports and passport renewals had remained pending for a long time.

The HC also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain in four weeks why their inaction in promptly disposing of the applications for new passports and passport renewals should not be declared illegal, and why they should not be directed to expedite the disposal of such applications, petitioner’s lawyer Advocate Manzill Murshid told The Daily Star.

The cabinet secretary, principal secretary to the prime minister’s office, secretaries of the ministries of foreign affairs, expatriates' welfare and overseas employment, and law; director general of the Department of Immigration and Passports; and other officials concerned have been made respondents to the rule, he added.