Bengaluru : N. Muthappa Rai, founder-president of Jaya Karnataka, has been denied a passport as he may engage in activities prejudicial to sovereignty of India, the Ministry of External Affairs informed the High Court of Karnataka on Friday.

Assistant Solicitor General (ASG) of India Krishna S. Dixit, appearing for the Ministry of External Affairs, made a submission in this regard during the hearing of a petition, filed by Mr. Rai, complaining that the Regional Passport Officer (RPO) has not considered his plea for re-issuance of passport. The court, in an earlier proceeding, had asked the RPO to appropriately consider the plea for issuance of a passport.

The ASG said the RPO had, on June 25, 2015, rejected Mr. Rai’s application under the Section 6(2)(b)and(c) of the Passports Act, 1967.

The Section 6(2)(b)and(c) of the Passports Act authorises the MEA to refuse passport if an applicant may, or is likely to, engage outside India in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India; and that the departure of the applicant from India may, or is likely to, be detrimental to the security of India.

Following this, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer disposed of Mr. Rai’s plea while reserving liberty for him to challenge the order of the RPO rejecting the application for issuance of passport. His passport was revoked when he was facing a series of serious criminal cases. He was later acquitted in all the cases by the courts.