Ashutosh Sharma Vs I.B. Rani IPS & Anr. — Contempt of Court | Delhi HC (2025)

Ashutosh Sharma Vs I.B. Rani IPS & Anr. — Contempt of Court | Delhi HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Contempt petition disposed of after remedial directions: Court-directed communication of 15.07.2025 issued to the Deputy Director, Bureau of Immigration for deletion of the quashed LOC with immediate effect; respondent no.1 directed to ensure compliance with the judgment of 26.07.2024 in W.P.(C) No. 7769/2022; copy of order to be sent to the Bureau of Immigration by recorded delivery and email; order to be uploaded on the Court's website. The exemption application (CM APPL. 41214/2025) was separately allowed and disposed of.

Issue for consideration

Whether there has been wilful disobedience by the respondents of the Delhi High Court judgment dated 26th July 2024 in W.P.(C) No. 7769/2022, which quashed the Look Out Circular issued against the petitioner at the instance of Bank of Baroda and the Office Memorandum dated 22nd February 2021 of the Bureau of Immigration.

Court's answer

The Court considered that Bank of Baroda's communication of 29th April 2025 to the Immigration Officer may not have been totally clear that the LOC stands quashed, and that this has obviously caused confusion at the Bureau of Immigration.

Ratio / Principle

On the directions of the Court, a communication was issued on 15th July 2025 to the Deputy Director, Bureau of Immigration stating that the LOC opened against Mr. Ashutosh Sharma has been quashed by the Court and may be deleted with immediate effect.

Key takeaways

Respondent no.1 is directed to take note of the communication and ensure that there is no lack of compliance with the orders of this Court in W.P.(C) No. 7769/2022, considering that the LOC in question stands quashed.ratio¶¶27
A copy of the order is to be sent to respondent no.1/the Bureau of Immigration through recorded delivery and email.ratio¶¶27

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Delhi High Court (Anish Dayal, J.) disposed of a contempt petition (CONT.CAS(C) 1031/2025) alleging wilful disobedience of the judgment dated 26.07.2024 in W.P.(C) 7769/2022, whereby the Look Out Circular issued against the petitioner, Ashutosh Sharma (Director and shareholder of Asian Star Private Limited), at the instance of respondent no.2/Bank of Baroda, and the Office Memorandum dated 22.02.2021 of respondent no.1/Bureau of Immigration, had been quashed. Counsel submitted that the petitioner was stopped at New Delhi Airport on 08.06.2025 and 29.04.2025 and allowed to travel only upon confirmation from the Bank. The Bank stated that its 29.04.2025 communication to the Immigration Officer had requested suspension of the LOC per the Court's order. The Court found that this communication may not have made totally clear that the LOC already stood quashed, causing confusion at the Bureau of Immigration. Accordingly, on the Court's directions, a communication dated 15.07.2025 was issued to the Deputy Director, Bureau of Immigration stating that the LOC stands quashed and is to be deleted with immediate effect; respondent no.1 was directed to ensure there is no lack of compliance with the orders in W.P.(C) 7769/2022; and a copy of the order was to be sent to the Bureau of Immigration through recorded delivery and email. No adjudicative finding of wilful contempt was recorded; the petition was disposed of accordingly. The accompanying exemption application (CM APPL. 41214/2025) was allowed and disposed of.

$~85

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

- CONT.CAS(C) 1031/2025 CM APPL. 41214/2025 ASHUTOSH SHARMA .....Petitioner

Through: Ms. Astha Gumber, advocate.

versus

I.B. RANI IPS & ANR. .....Respondent Through: Mr. Arun Aggarwal, Advocate, with Mr. Lovekesh Kukreja, Advocate for R-2 along with Ms. Jyotsna Rani, Senior Manager, Gift City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Bank of Baroda.

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANISH DAYAL

O R D E R % 15.07.2025

CM APPL. 41214/2025 ( Exemption )

Allowed, subject to all just exceptions.

Application is allowed and disposed of.

CONT.CAS(C) 1031/2025

This petition has been filed alleging wilful disobedience of Judgment dated 26^th July 2024 passed by this Court in W.P (C) NO. 7769/2022 . The issue concerned the quashing of the Look Out Circular (‘ LOC ’) issued at the instance of respondent no. 2/ Bank of Baroda and Office Memorandum dated 22^nd February 2021 issued by respondent no.1/ Bureau of Immigration.

There were certain allegations relating to return of credit facilities

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 18/07/2025 at 11:45:10

provided by Bank of Baroda to petitioner, who is the Director and shareholder of Asian Star Private Limited .

After considering the arguments made by parties, order dated 26^th July 202 was passed by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in Writ Petition [ W.P (C) NO. 7769/2022 ] , quashing the LOC. Relevant paragraph of the said order is extracted as under:

Counsel for petitioner, however, states that on certain occasions, when they have tried to travel, they have been stopped by the authorities at the New Delhi Airport, particularly, once on 8^th June 2025 and again on 29^th April 2025, and that only when a confirmation was given from Bank of Baroda, he was allowed to travel.

Counsel for Baroda of Baroda has stated, on instructions, that even in the communication on 29^th April 2025 to the Immigration Officer, they had stated, “ As per the order of the Court, we request you to suspend the LOC, Mr. Ashutosh Sharma and allow him to travel abroad ”.

Considering that this communication may not have been totally clear, that the LOC stands quashed, it has obviously caused confusion at the

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 18/07/2025 at 11:45:10

Bureau of Immigration.

Accordingly, on the directions of this Court, a communication has been issued today, i.e., 15^th July 2025, to the Deputy Director, Bureau of Immigration, stating that the LOC opened against Mr. Ashutosh Sharma has been quashed by this Court and the same may be deleted with immediate effect. A snapshot of this communication is being extracted herein for ready reference:

This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 18/07/2025 at 11:45:10

Accordingly, respondent no.1 is directed to take note of the same and ensure that there is no lack of compliance with the orders of this Court in W.P (C) NO. 7769/2022 , considering that LOC in question stands quashed. 9. A copy of this order may be sent to the respondent no.1/the Bureau of Immigration, East Block-VIII, Sector-1, R.K Puram, New Delhi-110066, through recorded delivery and email.

Ms. Jyotsna Rani , Senior Manager, Bank of Baroda, Gift City SEZ, Gandhinagar, Gujarat is also present through VC.

Petition is disposed of accordingly. 12. Order be uploaded on the website of this Court.

ANISH DAYAL, J

JULY 15, 2025/RK

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 18/07/2025 at 11:45:10