Former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti issued passport after three years

PDP president and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has been issued a passport with 10-year validity, sources said here on June 4.

PDP president and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has been issued a passport with 10-year validity, sources said here on June 4.

After a prolonged legal battle in the Delhi High Court, the passport was delivered to Ms. Mehbooba. Her travel document expired in 2019 and since then she had been seeking its renewal.

It came barely two days ahead of a hearing in Jammu and Kashmir High Court where Ms. Mehbooba's daughter Iltija's plea challenging the decision of the passport office to give her a country-specific passport is to come up.

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The passport given to Ms. Mehbooba, who was the last Chief Minister of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State before it was bifurcated in 2019, is valid from June 1, 2023, till May 31, 2033.

The Delhi High Court in March this year had asked the passport authority to decide within three months on issuing a fresh travel document to the PDP chief.

"Considering that the matter is remanded back to the passport officer and the initial rejection was two years ago, let the passport officer concerned take a decision expeditiously and in any case within three months," Justice Prathiba M Singh had noted in the order in March this year.