Delhi High Court upholds 67% passport fee hike for Indians abroad

The Delhi High Court dismissed a PIL challenging higher passport fees for Indians living abroad. The bench called the 67 per cent rise reasonable and stressed restraint in financial policy.Image used for representational purposes onlyNewdelhi,Oct 28, 2026 16:48 ISTThe Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition challenging the Centre's decision to raise passport fees for Indians living abroad, news agency Press Trust of India reported. The court said the 67 per cent increase after 14 years was neither unreasonable nor excessive.A bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma noted that the previous fee increase had taken effect in 2012. It said the determination of passport processing and renewal fees was a policy matter for the government and did not warrant judicial intervention in this case.“As long as such fees, which are levied towards the renewal of a passport or for processing of a passport, are not found to be unreasonably exorbitant, the court is not required to interfere with such policies,” the bench said, according to PTI.“After 14 years, it is a reasonable increase... we are not inclined to show any indulgence,” it added. The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Pravasi Legal Cell, which alleged a disparity between passport fees charged to Indian residents and non-resident Indians, who were required to pay Rs 5,000 or more.The petitioner's counsel said Indians living overseas had to pay about Rs 11,900 for passports, compared with Rs 2,500 for residents in India. The lawyer said the revised fee marked an increase of about 67 per cent, from nearly Rs 7,000 to Rs 11,900. The counsel argued that the increase placed a significant financial burden on low-income workers, including mechanics, plumbers and construction workers. Indian workers employed in Gulf countries, particularly those from economically weaker sections, were being charged substantially higher fees than residents in India, the lawyer submitted.The counsel also said the fee would impose an unbearable burden on migrants in the Gulf region who earned little money. The court, however, asked how the workers' economic status would be certified and whether certification by another country could bind the Indian government.The bench said courts should exercise restraint over the government's financial decisions and that any mechanism to assess the financial condition of Indians working abroad fell within the government's policy domain. It consequently declined to interfere with the passport fee increase and dismissed the petition.- Ends