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What is the News?
Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court while quashing a Look Out Circular (LOC) against the petitioner and passed omnibus instructions to the respondents including the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Bureau of Immigration (BOI).
The court asked to serve a copy of the LOC to the affected person, state the reasons for issuing the LOC “as soon as possible” and provide a “post-decisional opportunity”. The court also asked the MHA to include these directions in the “Official Memorandum” or the guidelines that govern the opening of LOCs.
The Government of India moved Supreme Court and the apex court stayed the particular paragraph of the High Court order recently.
What is a look out circular(LOC) and who can issue LOC?
| Read more: Explained: What is a look out notice, and when is it issued? |
Generated by: Bureau of Immigration (BOI) under the MHA is only the executing agency. They generate LOCs based on requests by different agencies.
Exceptional cases to issue LOCs: The 2010 Ministry guidelines give sweeping powers to police and intelligence agencies to generate LOCs in “exceptional cases”. They can generate LOCs without complete parameters or case details against “suspects, terrorists, anti-national elements, etc, in larger national interest.”
Validity of LOCs: As per norms, an LOC will stay valid for a maximum period of 12 months and if there is no fresh request from the agency then it will not be automatically revived.
Details required to generate LOC: According to a 2010 official memorandum of the Ministry, details such as First Information Report (FIR) number, court case number are to be mandatorily provided with name, passport number and other details.
Modification of LOCs: The LOCs can be modified; deleted or withdrawn only at the request of the originator. The legal liability of the action taken by immigration authorities in pursuance of LOC rests with the originating agency.
Remedial measures for individuals against LOCs: The MHA has asserted that “LOCs cannot be shown to the subject” at the time of detention nor can any prior intimation be provided. Further, no accused or subject of LOC can be provided with any opportunity of hearing before the issuance of the LOC since it defeats the purpose of LOC.
Source: The post is based on the article “Understanding the process of issuing LOCs” published in The Hindu on 23rd May 2022.
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