Seeman moves Madras High Court for re-issue of lost passport

Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) leader S. Seeman (60) has approached the Madras High Court against the refusal of the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Chennai to reissue his lost passport citing a number of criminal cases pending against him as per local police report.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, on Tuesday (July 15, 2025), directed a central government counsel to take notice on behalf of the RPO and accepted a request made by a Tamil Nadu government advocate to grant time till July 22 for filing a status report on behalf of the Inspector of Neelankarai police station in Chennai.

In his affidavit, the petitioner stated that he had been facing motivated criminal cases since 2008 and yet he had been visiting many foreign countries to meet the Tamil diaspora. When the RPO refused to reissue Seeman passport with additional pages in 2013, he had approached the High Court and obtained a favourable order.

However, when he planned to visit some neighbouring countries in September 2024, he learnt to have lost his passport somewhere. Immediately, a police complaint was lodged and a Lost Document Report (LDR) was obtained on October 10, 2024. Thereafter, he applied for reissuance of the passport in November 2024.

The RPO on January 31, 2025 refused to reissue the passport, the petitioner complained and contended he was not facing any serious charges and there was no likelihood of him absconding or evading the course of justice. Mere pendency of a few “motivated criminal cases” could not be a reason to deny passport, he said.