Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:134382-DB Court No. - 3 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 25401 of 2025 Petitioner :- Rajesh Kumar Pandey Respondent :- Idbi Bank Ltd. Counsel for Petitioner :- Ashok Pandey,Srestha Pandey Counsel for Respondent :- Krishna Kant Tiwari Hon'ble Shekhar B. Saraf,J. Hon'ble Praveen Kumar Giri,J. 1. Heard learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and Sri Krishna Kant Tiwari, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent bank. 2. In the present writ petition following prayers have been made by the petitioner:- "I. Issue a writ, order or direction in nature of certiorari calling for the records of the case and quash the impugned sale e-auction newspaper publication dated 16.07.25 for holding e-auction of gold on 01.08.25 under the Gold Loan Scheme contained as Annexure-1 to the writ petition. II. Issue a writ, order or direction in nature of Mandamus directing the respondent bank to issue NOC to the petitioner and return the gold ornaments to the petitioner." 2. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the bank submits that since the payment has been made by the petitioner, the auction sale has been cancelled. 3. In light of the same, the prayer 'I' of the petitioner has become infructuous. With regard to prayer 'II' for return of the gold, learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondent bank submits that since there are other 'Non-Performing Assets' (hereinafter referred to as 'NPA') accounts of the petitioner lying with the bank, they are holding this particular gold as lien. 4. Upon perusal of the documents, it has come to light that by way of three accounts loan has been taken by the petitioner in which property was mortgaged by the petitioner. All these three loan accounts became NPA in the year 2019. The particular gold loan was given by the bank subsequent to the loan account becoming NPA. It is clear that with regard to other NPA accounts, Original Applications are pending before the Debts Recovery Tribunal and the bank has securities with regard to those accounts. Furthermore, it is clear that the gold loan was given even after the other accounts have become NPA. Therefore, there is a clear delink between the gold loan account and other accounts and the claim of the bank that a lien would be created upon the gold appears to be completely without any basis in law. As the petitioner has paid the amount and the balance in the gold loan account has become nil, the bank has no reason or legal basis in holding back the said gold. 5. In light of the said discussions, we are of the view that the gold should be returned to the petitioner within a period of four weeks from date. 6. We make it clear that the bank shall be at liberty to pursue the Original Applications with regard to the other accounts before the Debts Recovery Tribunal. 7. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of. Order Date :- 8.8.2025 Dev (Praveen Kumar Giri J.) (Shekhar B. Saraf, J.) Digitally signed by :- DEV PRAKASH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad Digitally signed by :- DEV PRAKASH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad