Debts Recovery Tribunals and Appellate Tribunals
M/s S K OVERSEAS vs KARNATAKA BANK LTD on 21 June 2025
**Debts Recovery Tribunal-III, Delhi**
**MA/25/2025**
**In**
**SA/25/2015**
**M/s S.K. Overseas Vs Karnataka Bank Limited**
21.06.2025
Item no. 02
Present: Mr. Pawash, Ld. counsel for applicant.
Mr. V.K. Balyan, in person for husband of applicant.
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1. 1. This matter is taken up by this Tribunal through Hybrid mode.
2. 2. The present Miscellaneous Application No. 25/2025 has been filed by the applicant, Ms. Geeta Choudhary, seeking return of original property documents in relation to property bearing No. 10-C/B-3, Ashok Vihar III, New Delhi-110052.
3. 3. The applicant submits that she had purchased the aforesaid property after paying the full sale consideration amounting to Rs.65,00,000/- to Mr. Sandeep Agarwal under a One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme with Karnataka Bank. It is stated that the said Mr. Sandeep Agarwal was the borrower and the proprietor of M/s SK Overseas, who had availed loan of Rs.1.25 crores from Karnataka Bank, against which the property in question had been mortgaged. It is further submitted that possession of the property was handed over to the applicant on 22.11.2017, and since then, she is in exclusive possession.
4. 4. It is averred that original title documents pertaining to the mortgaged property were filed before this Tribunal by Karnataka Bank in the course of its recovery proceedings, which were subsequently disposed of on account of settlement. Later, it came to the applicant's knowledge that Mr. Sandeep Agarwal had allegedly offered the same property for mortgage to Canara Bank using forged documents, leading to registration of FIR No. 81/2021 dated 20.03.2021 against the said Sandeep Agarwal and bank officials.
5. 5. During the investigation, the Investigating Officer obtained the original title documents filed in the DRT proceedings and submitted the same to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi along sdh with the charge-sheet in Criminal Case No. 7953/2021. An application was also moved by the Investigating Officer before the DRT-III, Delhi for release of property documents. The DRT-III, Delhi has passed an order, vide order dated 03.10.2024 that the Ld. Magistrate in its discretion if above-noted documents are not required for trial of criminal case, documents shall be returned to this DRT, if they were no longer required for trial.
6. Considering the submissions on behalf of Ld. counsel for the applicant and perusal of records. This Tribunal is of the view that:
- a) The documents sought to be returned were not filed before this Tribunal by the present applicant, but by Karnataka Bank, the original lender.
- b) The said documents are currently part of the criminal proceedings pending before the competent criminal court, having been placed on record by the Investigating Officer.
- c) This DRT III, Delhi, has already passed an order dated 03.10.2024, stating that the question of return of documents is to be decided by the said criminal court after assessing whether such documents are still required for trial purposes or not.
- d) It is a well-settled principle that original documents can only be returned to the party who had originally filed them before the concerned judicial authority as DRT III, Delhi, unless otherwise directed as it is not required by a criminal court in the trial.
7. In light of the above circumstances, this Tribunal lacks the jurisdiction to direct the return of documents that are currently in the custody of the criminal court. If the criminal court, upon due consideration, concludes that the said documents are no longer required for the purposes of trial, they shall be returned to this Tribunal, where they were originally filed by Karnataka Bank. It is evident that although the applicant claims to have purchased the property from Mr. Sandeep Agarwal through a private transaction pursuant to a settlement, the original documents in question were submitted before this Tribunal by Karnataka Bank, not by the applicant.
Sd-
Accordingly, **Miscellaneous Application No. 25/2025** is found to be devoid of merit and is hereby dismissed.
Sd-
21.06.2025
(SHIV KUMAR - I) PRESIDING OFFICER, DRT-III, DELHI
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