370 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CR-1426-2025 (O&M)

Date of decision: 09.07.2025 Harikiran Singh Sodhi ...Petitioner Versus Devinder Singh Sodhi and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIKAS BAHL Present: Mr. Gaurav Chopra, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Divanshu Jain, Advocate and Mr. Jatin Bansal, Advocate and Ms. Gauri C. Kaushal, Advocate and Mr. Harmeet Singh, Advocate for the petitioner.

Ms. Kushaldeep Kaur, Advocate and Mr. Nishant Raj Ghangas, Advocate and Ms. Sharvi Dadhwal, Advocate for respondent Nos.1 and 2.

Mr. Shekhar Verma, Advocate and Mr. Sumit Narang, Advocate and Mr. Lalit Sharma, Advocate and Mr. Rahul Chadha, Advocate for respondent Nos.3-UCO Bank.

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VIKAS BAHL, J. (ORAL)

1. The present petitioner who is defendant No.3 in the main suit has filed the present revision petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India for setting aside the order dated 03.01.2025 (Annexure P-25) passed by the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Ludhiana in Civil Suit No.19444 of 2023, titled as “Davinder Singh Sodhi Vs. Prem Kaur &

Others”, whereby the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Ludhiana while adjudicating upon a clarification application filed by defendant No.7/respondent No.3-Bank has directed the said Bank to not release 80%

of the FDRs amount in favour of the petitioner.

ARGUMENTS ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER/DEFENDANT NO.3:-

2. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that Parminder Kaur along with Mrs. Prem Kaur widow of Samarjit Singh (defendant No.1 in the main suit) had an account in UCO Bank, Civil Lines, Ludhiana, mode of operation of which was “Either or Survivor” and the account number was 05340110012543 and to prima facie substantiate the same, has referred to the relevant portion of the passbook which has been annexed as Annexure P-1 along with the revision petition. It is submitted that from the said account, four joint FDRs were made in the name of Mrs. Parminder Kaur and the present petitioner-Harikiran Singh Sodhi (defendant No.3 in the main suit). It is submitted that the said four FDRs have been annexed as Annexure P-2 along with the present petition and a perusal of the same would show that the said four FDRs, which have been made on 06.08.2022, 22.05.2023, 20.04.2023 and 24.03.2023 respectively, are all with an endorsement of “Either or Survivor” meaning thereby that the said FDs could be operated either by Mrs. Parminder Kaur or by the present petitioner/defendant No.3 and in case, one of the two died, then, the other party would be entitled to encashment of the said FDRs. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner has further highlighted the said FDRs as well as FDR account numbers (Annexure P-2 colly) i.e., FDR No.602613 bearing FDR Account No.05340310106808 (at page 59 of the paper book), FDR No.717098 bearing FDR Account No.05340310112731 (at page 60 of the paper book), FDR No.717075 bearing FDR Account No.05340310112205 (at page 61 of the paper book) and FDR No.717056 bearing FDR Account No.05340310111598 (at page 62 of the paper book), and also the account number of the previous account of Parminder Kaur and Prem Kaur Sodhi in order to show that the said account/FDR/FDR account are not the subject matter of the civil suit which has been filed by respondent Nos.1 and 2/plaintiffs. It is further submitted that Parminder Kaur had died on 27.08.2023 and for the said purpose, has referred to her Death Certificate dated 30.08.2023 which has been annexed as Annexure P-

3 with the paper book.

3. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner has further referred to the UCO Bank policy on settlement of claim in respect of deceased account holder as well as the impugned order in which relevant portion of the said policy with respect to survivorship has been highlighted and has submitted that as per the same, where operational mandate of an account is “Either or Survivor” or “Anyone or Survivors”, then, such a mandate would permit the surviving account holder(s) to have uni