JUDGMENT :

1. The prayers in this petition read as under:

“a) Issue a Writ of Certiorari and/or a Writ in the nature of Certiorari and/or any other appropriate Writ/order inter alia quashing and setting aside the Provisional Attachment Order No. 8 of 2022 dated 21st September 2022 passed by Respondent No. 1 to the extent it attaches the Specified Assets that have been sold to the Petitioners;

b) Issue a Writ of Mandamus and/or a Writ in the nature of Mandamus and/or any other appropriate Writ/order inter alia to declare and order that the right, title and interest of the Petitioners to the Specified Assets sold to the Petitioners will not be affected in any manner by any action taken/to be taken by Respondent No. 1 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the Corporate Debtor or the Corporate Debtor’s promoters;”

2. Facts in brief are as under:

2.1 The petitioners namely (I) Welspun Steel Resources Private Limited (II) Welspun Corp Limited (III) Rank Real Estate and Infra Developers Private Limited and (IV) Mauyaan Shipyard Private Limited have approached this court challenging the provisional attachment order no. 8/22 dated 21.09.2022. ABG Shipyard Limited (the corporate debtor) was in the business of ship building in Dahej, Gujarat. An application under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) was filed by the ICICI Bank against the Corporate Debtor which was admitted by the National Company Law Tribunal, Ahmedabad (NCLT). The respondent no. 2, after passing of an order on admission was appointed as an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) and was subsequently confirmed as RP (Resolution Professional) by the Corporate Debtor. The Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process of the corporate debtor went on unsuccessfully for a period of one and half years and since it could not be resolved, by an order dated 25.04.2019, the corporate debtor was ordered to be liquidated by the NCLT. Several attempts to sell the assets were made but these public auctions had failed.

2.2 On 16.08.2021, the NCLT passed an order permitting the liquidator to complete the sale of assets on a composite basis and directed the liquidator to complete the process within a period of three weeks. On 24.08.2021, the liquidator issued a bid document for sale of specified assets of ABG Shipyard. The petitioners submitted their expression of interest on 26.08.2021. One of the bidders from the abandoned Swiss Challenge Process filed an appeal before the NCLT challenging the order of the NCLT dated 16.08.2021 permitting the liquidator to complete the sale of assets on a composite basis. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upheld the order of NCLT.

2.3 On a challenge before the Apex Court, the Apex Court upheld the power of the liquidator to sell the assets and pursuant thereto the liquidator resumes the sale process by amending the bid document. The petitioners were successful bidders. It appears that in the interregnum, State Bank of India who was one of the lenders filed a complaint against the corporate debtor and promoters with the CBI. On 07.02.2022, an FIR was registered pursuant to the complaint by the CBI. On 15.02.2022, an enforcement case was recorded under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2022 (PMLA).

2.4 After the petitioners were declared as successful bidders and had paid their entire sale consideration for specified assets, on 21.09.2022, the liquidator informed the petitioners that the respondent no. 1 – Deputy Director of Directorate of Enforcement had passed an order in respect of the assets that were sold to the petitioners. On 22.09.2022, a press note was published informing on its website that it had attached the assets of the corporate debtor. A copy of the provisional attachment order dated 21.09.2022 was received by the petitioners on 22.09.2022. The gist of the allegations contained in the order was that the loans raised on the banks were transferred to group