Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena has sanctioned the prosecution of 11 people allegedly involved in cases of obtaining passports by furnishing false and forged documents, Raj Niwas officials said on Sunday.

With this, the LG has granted prosecution sanction against 69 people whose names have figured in 46 FIRs under the Passports Act, 1967 that have been sent to him since April this year, they added.

The sanction for prosecution was sought by the home department under Section 15 of the Passports Act for the offences enlisted in Section 12 of the act for obtaining passports and travel documents like visa etc. on the basis of false, fabricated and forged documents, an official said.

The LG expressed concern that the agents who are co-accused and more often than not kingpins of rackets take innocent people for a ride yet remain untraced, the official said.

The LG was informed that eight agents involved in six cases of forged documents have not been traced as yet, the official said.

Between April and November, 40 more FIRs have previously come to the LG for which prosecution sanction were granted by the LG.

In the six cases, in which separate FIRs were lodged by Delhi Police between 2007 to 2019, the LG has expressed displeasure over delays in taking action and pointed out that in one case there was a lapse of more than 16 years, the official said.

"He underlined that to avoid undue delays in processing such cases, instructions had been issued earlier which were not being followed by the Delhi Police as well as the home department, and there had been inordinate delay in processing and submission of cases for seeking prosecution sanction," the official said.

Saxena directed the Delhi government's home department and Delhi Police to strictly adhere to the instructions and also examine the delay in the matter and fix responsibility of erring officers.

He called on the Delhi Police to intensify its efforts to identify and trace the agents involved in these cases to examine their culpability and expeditiously process the matters under the Passports Act.

Giving his approval for prosecuting the 11 accused, Saxena noted that all the cases are 'fit' for granting prosecution sanction under Section 15 of the Act, saying materials placed on record and facts of each cases prima facie makes out a case against the accused.

The LG in one such case also ordered the Delhi Police to examine the culpability of staff of RPO, Mumbai as well as officials concerned in Maharashtra Police who facilitated the issuance of two passports to the accused in Mumbai, he added.

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