$~79 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 15223/2025 and CM APPL. 62431/2025 PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK .....Petitioner Through: Ms. Nishi Chaudhary, Mr. Yashartha Gupta, Mr. Mayuresh Rishabh, Advs.

versus GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr Raghvendra Upadhyay, Ms Purnima Jain and Mr Swaraj Maurya, Advocates for R-1/ GNCTD.

Mr. Abhinav sharma, Mr. Dipan Sethi, and Mr. Snehashish Bhattacharya, Advs for RBI.

Ms. Saroj Bidawat, Adv with SI Ram Roop for R-5.

CORAM:

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV

O R D E R

% 21.01.2026

1. On 06.10.2025, the Court has noted the grievance of the petitioner and has also directed for issuance of notice.

2. On 29.10.2025, again the matter was called out and during the course of proceedings Sub-Inspector Saurabh Kumar, who appeared for respondent no.5 submitted that the concerned documents / peshi register/s are in the possession of the District Investigation Unit (‘DIU’). He then assured that the relevant record shall be retrieved from the DIU within a period of 8 weeks from that date.

1. Today, the concerned SHO, PS Shalimar Bagh placed on record the following status report, and the same is extracted as under:

“1. That, on 09/05/2005 a case FIR No. 387/2005, U/s 420/468/471 IPC was registered in PS Shalimar Bagh, Delhi on the complaint of Sh. J.S. Rana, Sub Registrar-VI, Govt. of NCT Delhi, Pitampura, Delhi and later, the case file was transferred to DIU/NWD as per the directions of senior officers. The same was marked to the Insp. Ram Kumar who has been retired from the Delhi Police.

2. That, during the course of investigation, IO Insp. Ram Kumar has seized the Partition Deed dated 30/06/2023 and after finalize the case, he has submitted the case file before the Hon’ble Court vide RC No. 222/21/16, Dt. 24/05/2016.

3. That, now, the matter is listed before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court so search was made to trace out the case file at Rohini Court, Delhi but the same could not be traced. Moreover, in this regard the then IO/Insp. Ram Kumar was contacted at several times but he kept ignoring and did not apprise the actual facts.

4. That, in this regard a request letter is being sent to the Office of Deputy Commissioner of Police, District North-West Delhi to pass the necessary directions to DIU/NWD to trace out the case file or depute a police official from DIU/NWD to appear before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court.

5. That, undersigned is ready to abide by all the directions passed by this Hon’ble court.”

3. It is, thus, seen that the grievance of the petitioner is not being properly looked into. The petitioner is being prevented from fulfilling its regulatory obligation and the inaction of the respondents also frustrates the statutory rights of both the lender and the borrower.

4. It is the primary duty of the respondent-Sub Registrar to maintain the record of the document registered in accordance with the Registration Act, 1908. If the documents are seized by the Investigating Agency, the Sub- Registrar is fully capable of taking permission of the Investigating Agency and to retrieve the same.

5. Merely, the documents are stated to have been seized, should not be the reason for not furnishing the certified copy thereto, to the petitioner. If there are some lapses on the part of the Investigating Agency, the same also will have to be looked into with due expedition and appropriate action requires to be taken by the concerned agency.

6. In any case, the grievance of the petitioner will have to be duly considered. In view thereof, the Court directs the concerned Sub-Registrar to take expeditious steps for ensuring that the petitioner gets the certified copy of the registered documents within a period of four months from today. 7. Let the Sub-Registrar to take all necessary steps failing which the Court shall be constrained to take action against the responsible Authority.

8. With the aforesaid directions, the petition, along with pending application(s), if any, stands disposed