$~43 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 11021/2025 PUNEET BATRA .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Avi Singh, Mr. Kirti Uppal, Mr.

Mohit Mathur and Mr. Sachin Puri, Sr. Advs. with Mr. Kunal Malhotra, Mr. Animesh Gaba, Ms. Nalinaksha Singh, Mr. Akshat Sharma, Mr.

Manish Dhankani, Ms. Ishan Parashar, Mr. Arjun Singh and Ms. N.

Raj Tyagi, Advs.

Along with Petitioner in person versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, Mr. S.V. Raju ASG with Mr. Aditya Singla, SSC, Mr. PC Aggarwal, Mr. Amit Khatri, Ms. Arunima Dwivedi, SSCs, CBIC with Ms. Arya Suresh Nair, Mr. Dhananjay Gautam, Mr.

Annam Venkatesh, Mr. Shaurya Sarin, Mr. Harsh Paul Singh, Ms. Aditi Andley and Mr. Aryansh Shukla Advs.

Ms. Arunima Dwivedi SSC with Mr.

Amit Dutta, Ms. Himanshi and Ms.

Monalisa Pradhan, Advs.

CORAM:

JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUSTICE SHAIL JAIN

O R D E R

% 13.11.2025

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

CM APPL. 68661/2025

2. The present application has been filed under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 read with Article 226 of the Constitution of India by the Respondent No.2- Goods and Services Tax Department (East) (hereinafter, ‘GST Department’), inter alia, seeking the following direction:

“A. Pass a direction that the parsed hard drives of the CPU of the Petitioner in possession of the IT Officers of the Hon’ble Court be handed over to the DGGI- NFSU (MHA) LAB for complete forensic examination under such conditions as the Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper;”

3. Issue notice in the present application.

4. In support of the application, Mr. Tushar Mehta, ld. Solicitor General along with Mr. S.V. Raju, ld. Additional Solicitor General have made their submissions, on behalf of the Respondents.

5. An affidavit dated 29th October, 2025, in compliance of the order of this Court dated 9^th September, 2025 has been handed over today, by the GST Department.

6. The affidavit is stated to be containing certain confidential information relating to the ongoing investigation which is being carried out against M/s Martkarma Technologies Pvt. Ltd, (hereinafter, ‘M/s Martkarma’), the gaming company that is stated to have engaged the Petitioner for rendering various professional and legal services. Accordingly, a redacted copy of the affidavit has been handed over to ld. Sr. Counsels for the Petitioner.

7. The submission on behalf of ld. Solicitor General on behalf of the GST Department is that, the Petitioner- Mr. Puneet Batra was in fact, gaining 0.7%

of revenue, which was being collected by M/s Martkarma, and was therefore in a partnership, and was not merely acting as an Advocate for the M/s Martkarma. However, this position is completely disputed by the Petitioner.

8. On the basis of the affidavit, the submission of ld. Solicitor General on behalf of the GST Department is that, there are various employees and other officials of M/s Martkarma, including directors, etc., who have repeatedly made statements that the Petitioner was actively involved in the running of M/s Martkarma, and was not merely associated in his professional capacity as an Advocate under attorney-client relationship.

9. Presently, the prayer sought by the present application is that, the Central Processing Unit (hereinafter, ‘CPU’) which was seized from the Petitioner, which was directed to be inspected in terms of paragraphs 23 and 24 of the previous order of this Court dated 9th September 2025, has only been partially parsed, though the cloning of the CPU has already been completed. It is submitted that the process of parsing requires specialized technical machinery, to enable proper analysis of the data. The previous order had laid down specific directions regarding the manner in which the CPU was to be examined.

10. Ld. Senior Counsels appearing on behalf of Petitioner submit that they intend to file a reply to the present application.

11. The Court has heard all the ld. Sr. Counsels appearing on behalf of the parties in th