Pankaj Gupta Vs Enforcement Directorate Thr Additional Director — Delhi HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Pankaj Gupta Vs Enforcement Directorate Thr Additional Director — Delhi HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Delay in filing and re-filing the Appeals condoned and the CM applications disposed of; Appeals permitted to be withdrawn and dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to furnish the pre-deposit as directed vide the Impugned Judgment within six weeks; on such compliance, the appeals before the learned Appellate Tribunal to be revived irrespective of its order dated 26.05.2026.

Issue for consideration

Whether the delay in filing and re-filing of LPA 482/2026, LPA 483/2026 and LPA 485/2026 (CM APPL. 41842-41845/2026 and CM APPL. 42085-42086/2026) should be condoned. +1 more

Court's answer

For the reasons stated in the applications, the delay in filing as well as re-filing the respective Appeals is condoned; the delay-condonation applications are allowed and stand disposed of.

Ratio / Principle

Upon the appellants' request after arguments, the Appeals were permitted to be withdrawn and stand dismissed as withdrawn, with liberty to furnish the pre-deposit as directed vide the Impugned Judgment within a period of six weeks.

Key takeaways

The Court directed that if the Appellants comply with the Order as modified by the Impugned Judgment within a period of six weeks, the appeals filed before the learned Appellate Tribunal shall stand revived irrespective of the Tribunal's order dated 26.05.2026 dismissing them.ratio¶37

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

High Court of Delhi (Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia), order dated 10.07.2026 in LPA 482/2026, LPA 483/2026 & LPA 485/2026 (Shashank Srivatsava; Late Dalip Srivatsava rep. by legal heir Sh. Sashank Srivatsava; Pankaj Gupta v. Enforcement Directorate through Additional Director): delay in filing and re-filing of the three Letters Patent Appeals condoned. The Appeals challenged the judgment dated 23.03.2026 in W.P.(C) 16598/2025, W.P.(C) 16631/2025 and W.P.(C) 16691/2025, which modified the order dated 01.07.2025 of the learned Appellate Tribunal (named in the text with the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976) by permitting 5% of the directed 10% pre-deposit of the penalty amount to be furnished by way of a bank guarantee or surety to the satisfaction of the Tribunal. After arguments, counsel sought leave to withdraw the Appeals with liberty to furnish the pre-deposit as directed vide the Impugned Judgment within six weeks; the Appeals were dismissed as withdrawn, with the further direction that if the Appellants comply with the Order as modified within six weeks, their appeals before the Tribunal — dismissed vide order dated 26.05.2026 for non-furnishing of the pre-deposit — shall stand revived irrespective of that order.

$~52 to 54

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI (52)

LPA 482/2026 SHASHANK SRIVATSAVA .....Appellant Through: Mr. Karan Kumar, Advocate.

versus

ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE THR. ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR .....Respondent

Through:

(53) + LPA 483/2026 LATE DALIP SRIVATSAVA REP. BY LEGAL HEIR SH. SASHANK SRIVATSAVA .....Appellant Through: Mr. Karan Kumar, Advocate.

versus

ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE THROUGH ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR .....Respondent

Through:

(54)

- LPA 485/2026 PANKAJ GUPTA .....Appellant Through: Mr. Karan Kumar, Advocate.

versus

ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE THR ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR

.....Respondent

Through:

CORAM: HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TEJAS KARIA

LPA 482/2026

Page 1 of 3

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 17/07/2026 at 11:26:01

O R D E R % 10.07.2026

CM APPL. 41842/2026(Delay in filing) & CM APPL. 41843/2026(Delay

in re-filing) in LPA 482/2026 CM APPL. 41844/2026(Delay in filing) & CM APPL. 41845/2026(Delay in re-filing) in LPA 483/2026

CM APPL. 42085/2026(Delay in filing) & CM APPL. 42086/2026(Delay in re-filing) in LPA 485/2026

These Applications have been filed seeking condonation of delay in filing and re-filing the respective Appeals.

For the reasons stated in the Applications, the same are allowed. The delay in filing as well as re-filing the respective Appeals is hereby condoned.

The Applications stand disposed of.

LPA 482/2026, LPA 483/2026 & LPA 485/2026

This batch of Letters Patent Appeals is filed against Judgment dated 23.03.2026 (“ Impugned Judgment ”) passed in W.P.(C) 16598/2025, W.P.(C) 16631/2025 and W.P.(C) 16691/2025, wherein the order dated 01.07.2025 (“ Order ”) passed by the learned Appellate Tribunal, Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976, in the applications filed by the Appellants for waiver of pre-deposit of penalty amount was challenged. Vide the Impugned Judgment, the Order was modified to the extent that out of the amount of 10% of pre-deposit of the penalty amount as directed vide Order, 5% of the pre-deposit was permitted by way of a bank guarantee or a surety of the said amount to the satisfaction of the learned Appellate Tribunal.

LPA 482/2026

Page 2 of 3

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 17/07/2026 at 11:26:01

After some arguments, learned Counsel for the Appellants sought permission to withdraw the present Appeals with a liberty to furnish the predeposit as directed vide the Impugned Judgment within a period of six weeks.

It was submitted that after passing of the Impugned Judgment, vide order dated 26.05.2026, the learned Appellate Tribunal has dismissed the appeals filed by the Appellant before the learned Appellate Tribunal on account of non-furnishing of the pre-deposit as directed vide the Impugned Judgment.

In view of the above, we direct that if the Appellants comply with the Order, as modified by the Impugned Judgment, within a period of six weeks, the appeals filed before the learned Appellate Tribunal shall be revived irrespective of the order dated 26.05.2026 passed by the learned Appellate Tribunal.

In view of the above, the present Appeals are dismissed as withdrawn with the aforesaid direction.

DEVENDRA KUMAR UPADHYAYA, CJ

TEJAS KARIA, J

JULY 10, 2026/sms

LPA 482/2026

Page 3 of 3

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 17/07/2026 at 11:26:01