Ethics · 15 Jul 2026

Maneka Gandhi case due process cascading disabilities

A citizen's passport renewal was stalled because his name had been deleted during a routine Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, even though nothing in the Passports Act, 1967 links electoral roll status to passport eligibility. With reference to the constitutional principle most directly applicable here, which one of the following is correct?

AManeka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) held that restrictions on personal liberty, including the right to travel, must be based on a fair, reasoned and independently justified application of the specific law authorising the restriction
BThe Representation of the People Act, 1950 explicitly empowers passport authorities to treat electoral roll deletions as automatic grounds for denying passport renewal
CManeka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) held that the right to travel abroad is not covered under Article 21 and can be restricted by any executive order without judicial review
DThe Passports Act, 1967 mandates that all applicants first clear a cross-verification check against current electoral roll status before renewal can be processed

Tests precise recall of a landmark judgment's actual holding, resisting plausible-sounding reversed or fabricated versions of well-known case law.

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About this question

Why in news

A former newspaper editor's passport renewal was stalled after his name was deleted during West Bengal's 2026 Special Intensive Revision, drawing attention to the risk of "cascading civil disabilities" across unrelated statutory domains.

Why for UPSC

This tests whether aspirants can correctly state the actual holding of a landmark judgment (Maneka Gandhi) rather than a plausible-sounding but reversed or fabricated version of it, applied to a live administrative accountability scenario.

Prelims summary

Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) held that restrictions on personal liberty, including the right to travel, require fair, reasoned application of the specific authorising law - not borrowed findings from an unrelated statute like the Representation of the People Act.

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