Nieman Fellow William Worthy returned yesterday morning from a 41-day tour of Communist China, but the Department of State made no effort to seize his disputed passport.

Worthy arrived at Logan Airport shortly after 9 a.m. on a plane from Europe, and went on to New York later in the morning. He will spend two or three days there before returning to the University to resume his studies.

His passport had been officially "revoked" on December 28 after he and two other United States newsmen had entered Red China. The State Department has insisted that reporters must not enter China while Americans remain imprisoned there.

In Budapest, where he stopped on his return from China, the United States Vice-Consul asked him to surrender his passport, but he refused, and yesterday the Government took no further action either here or in New York.

Worthy charged that the revocation was made on "incredibly shaky ground," and while he said he went to China "primarily to gather news," he was "perfectly willing to be a test case."

A correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American, the 35-year old reporter also filed copy to the New York Post and made some short-wave broadcasts for CBS.

He left at the beginning of Christmas recess, and had planned to return for the beginning of this term, but was delayed in obtaining travel facilities.

After talking with Worthy, Louis M. Lyons, Curator of the Nieman Fellow-ships, said that no question would be raised as to his status as a Nieman Fellow. He said the trip was undertaken with his knowledge, and that he had not disapproved Worthy's writing. Lyons had not committed himself on the passport issue.