The Centre has assured the Bombay High Court that it will consider whether the notings can be removed from the passports of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s brother and his family.

Dawood’s brother Iqbal Kaskar and his family filed a petition in the high court challenging an observation by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on their passports saying “valid to travel between UAE and India only”.

Kaskar’s lawyer Jagdish Shetty prayed that the MEA be directed to remove the observation from their passports so that the family — Kaskar (45), wife Rizwana (42), daughters Hafsa (21) and Kaniz Fatima (20) and sons Mohammed Rizwan (20), Aiman Iqbal Hasan (12) and Mohammed Aaban (10) are presently settled in Dubai — can travel to other countries.

In his petition Kaskar said his children are students and don’t have any criminal records.

Shetty argued that Kaskar was deported from Dubai ion February 19, 2003, and the next day he was booked in a murder case. Then on February 26, 2003, he was arrested under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act for his alleged involvement in the illegal shopping complex, Sara-Sahara case.

Kaskar was discharged from the murder case and acquitted in the Sara-Sahara case. “Now he does not have any criminal case against him,” said Shetty.

The division bench of Justice J. N. Patel and Justice Amjad Sayed asked MEA and the passport authority to inform the high court about its decision by January 5.