Crux of the Hon'able High Court Order was :

• Scheme of FEMA is different from erstwhile FERA.
• Power to examine persons which existed in erstwhile FERA does not find place in FEMA and summons can only be issued to persons to give evidence or produce documents
• Summons dated 2-8-2010 and 24-8-2010 issued by Directorate of Enforcement was only tendering evidence in respect of various agreements executed by BCCI-IPL along with other documents mentioned in the said summons.
• Summons are not for the purposes of interrogation of the person as these powers are not available under FEMA to enforcement directorate
• FEMA stipulates adjudication proceedings for which an inquiry initiated in this case based on a compliant by Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement.
• A person either personally or through a legal practitioner or through a chartered account can appear and therefore there is no power under the Rules which extend to enforcing attendance of the person himself and he can opt to appear through his representative.
• Under Rule 4(7) of Foreign Exchange Management(Adjudication Proceedings and Appeal) Rules, 2000, Adjudication authority can proceed with adjudication proceedings in absence of a person or his representatives after recording reasons.
• Adjudication authority can also impose penalties stipulated under Law and there is nothing under law which prevents him from imposing penalties in absence of a person or his representatives.
• In the FEMA case the complaint registered on 16-9-2010 followed by show cause notice dated 20-9-2010 and since 2010 case has not progressed beyond this stage and no adjudication order imposing penalty imposed
• A Passport can be revoked under Section 10(3) of the Passports Act only when it is necessary in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, security of India, friendly relations of India with any foreign country or interests of general public.
• Only reason for revocation of passport given in Show cause notice was non-compliance with summons without assigning reasons how it is linked with the public interest or nature of violations under FEMA having impact on public interest.
• Passport officer cannot go into the merits of FEMA violations which is a separate enactment and can't conclude on his own that it is against public order and further object of summons was to provide evidence and documents and appellant was also willing to be examined through video conferencing
• Based on above, Hon'able High Court concluded that non-appearance in response to summons is not such a serious matter as to result in revocation of passport of the appellant, especially in the light of the fundamental rights of the citizen guaranteed under Article 19 and Article 21 and especially in the light of Hon'able Supreme Court in Maneka Gandhi VS Union of India 1978 1SCC
• Our Question: If Going by the above facts and rationale of the case, can't there be a genuine reasons for the Government to accept the Hon'able Delhi High Court verdict or as a Rule every order without seeing the merits should be appealed by the Govt before the higher forum just to avoid any doubts or questions on propriety?