Delhi High Court
Nisha Chawla vs Principal Commissioner Of ... on 5 April, 2022
$~44
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
% Date of decision: 05.04.2022
+ W.P.(C) 5699/2022
NISHA CHAWLA ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr Akhil Krishan Maggu, Advocate.
versus
PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (PREVENTIVE),
NEW CUSTOM HOUSE, NEW DELHI & ANR. ..... Respondents
Through: Ms Anushree Narain, Advocate for
respondent no.1.
Mr Akshit Kapur, Advocate for
respondent no.2/SBI.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAJIV SHAKDHER
HON'BLE MS JUSTICE POONAM A. BAMBA
[Physical Hearing/Hybrid Hearing (as per request)]
RAJIV SHAKDHER, J.: (ORAL)
CM APPL.17020/2022
1. Allowed, subject to just exceptions.
W.P.(C) 5699/2022
2. Issue notice.
2.1. Ms Anushree Narain accepts notice on behalf of respondent no.1 i.e.,
Principal Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), while Mr Akshit Kapur
accepts notice on behalf of respondent no.2 i.e., State Bank of India (SBI)
3. With the consent of the counsel for the parties, the writ petition is
taken up for hearing and final disposal, at this stage itself.
4. The substantive prayers made in the writ petition are as follows:
"(i) issue a writ of mandamus order direction thereby
directing the respondents to defreeze/unblock the PPF account
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:ATUL W.P.(C)No.5699/2022 Pag e 1 of 3
JAIN
Signing Date:07.04.2022
19:27:49
of the petitioner bearing number 00000032066192303 held at
State Bank of India, West Patel Nagar Branch: And/Or;
(ii) issue a writ of mandamus order direction thereby
directing the respondents to disburse/hand over the amount of
INR 11,97,522/- to the petitioner deposited in the PPF account
bearing number 00000032066192303 held at State Bank of
India, West Patel Nagar Branch of the petitioner"
4.1. In support of his plea, Mr Akhil Krishan Maggu, who appears for the
petitioner, has drawn our attention to Annexure-P1, which is, appended on
page 28 of the case file. This is a document, which is, indicative of the fact
that the petitioner's account maintained with respondent no.2/bank has been
frozen, based on a communication dated 21.09.2021 i.e., the letter bearing
number as C.No.: VIII/Cus. Prev./NCH/RC/206/2017/7097.
4.2. Ms Narain has screen-shared the aforementioned letter dated
21.09.2021, issued by respondent no.1/revenue.
4.2(a) A perusal of this letter shows that respondent no.1/revenue seeks to
recover government dues from the petitioner's account bearing no.
34185966707, which is, maintained with respondent no.2-bank's branch
located at E1, 7, Near Metro Pillar No.171, East Patel Nagar, New Delhi-
110008.
5. Therefore, clearly, respondent no.1 did not intend to put on hold i.e.,
freeze the petitioner's Public Provident Fund (PPF) account, which, as is
evident from the prayers made in the writ petition, is different from the
account, which is, referred to in respondent no.1's letter dated 21.09.2021.
5.1 Respondent no.2-bank will take note of this aspect, and lift the hold
on the petitioner's PPF account, which is referred to hereinabove.
6. The writ petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:ATUL W.P.(C)No.5699/2022 Pag e 2 of 3
JAIN
Signing Date:07.04.2022
19:27:49
7. For the purpose of good order and record, the Registry will scan and
upload the communication dated 21.09.2021, which has been screen-shared
with us by Ms Narain, so that the said document stands embedded in the
case file.
8. Parties will act, based on the digitally signed copy of this order.
(RAJIV SHAKDHER)
JUDGE
(POONAM A. BAMBA)
JUDGE
APRIL 5, 20221
tr
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Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:ATUL W.P.(C)No.5699/2022 Pag e 3 of 3
JAIN
Signing Date:07.04.2022
19:27:49
