Jammu & Kashmir High Court
Anantnag vs Tehsil & District Samba on 27 July, 2026
2026:JKLHC-JMU:2322
Regular List
Serial No. 30
HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH
AT JAMMU
CRM(M) No. 189/2023
Date of pronouncement : 27.07.2026
Uploaded on : 28.07.2026
Imtiyaz Ahmed Khanday
S/O Sh. Mohd. Rajab Khanday,
R/O Masjid, Damjan Ganoora,
Anantnag, Kashmir
.....Petitioner
Through:- Mr. Pawan K. Kundal, Sr. Adv. with
Mr. Avnish Baboria, Advocate.
V/s
UT of J&K Th.
SHO Police Station, Samba,
Tehsil & District Samba
.....Respondent
Through:- Mr. Vishal Bharti, Dy. AG.
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M A CHOWDHARY, JUDGE
ORDER (ORAL)
01. The petitioner, through the medium of this petition, seeks quashment
of order dated 15.03.2022 passed by the learned Principal Sessions
Judge, Samba, as Special Judge under the NDPS Act, whereby the
application filed by the petitioner for release of his vehicle bearing
registration No. JK03C-9848 seized in connection with
FIR No. 282/2021 registered at Police Station Samba for commission
of offences punishable under Sections 8, 15 and 29 of the Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act, 1985, was
rejected.
02. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner
is the registered owner of the vehicle and he was not an accused in
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the case and that the trial court had rejected the application filed by
the petitioner not on some sound ground, but on the basis of some
statements recorded during the investigation of the case by the
Investigating Officer (I.O.) with regard to change of hands in respect
of the vehicle, whereas the fact of the matter remains that petitioner
still continues to be the registered owner of the vehicle having been
registered in the year 2012 and that he has been paying the
installments of the bank loans and in this regard, he has drawn the
attention of this Court to a notice of the Branch Unit Shankerpora of
J&K Bank dated 02.02.2023, whereby a “Recall Notice” was issued
in the name of the petitioner by the Bank. He further argued that the
order passed by the court below be quashed and the vehicle be
ordered to be released in favour of the petitioner.
03. Pursuant to the notice, the respondent has filed the status
report/reply, asserting therein that the vehicle was owned having
been used in NDPS cases, is liable to be confiscated. As such, the
trial court has rightly rejected the application. Since the vehicle is
stated to have changed hands from the petitioner to two other persons
and the court below has, thus, rightly rejected the plea for release of
vehicle in the name of the petitioner, even if being a registered
owner.
04. Heard learned counsel for the parties.
05. Though the trial court has observed in its order that the vehicle was
stated to have been transferred from petitioner, who is registered
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owner, to some other persons. However, there is nothing on record,
as is apparent from the impugned order, to suggest that any of the
claimants had appeared before the trial court to seek release of the
vehicle. It was for the trial court to seek the objections, if any, from
the persons, who were stated to have been transferred the vehicle by
the registered owner, so as to pass final order in the matter.
Such a recourse was inevitable in view of the fact that the vehicle
may be required or proceedings to be carried out for confiscation of
the vehicle at the time of disposal of the case, as contemplated in
Section 60 of the NDPS Act, 1985. In such a situation, the order
dated 15.03.2022 passed by the trial Court is not sustained and is
liable to be quashed.
06. Viewed thus, the impugned order is set-aside and the matter is
remanded back to the trial court for deciding the same after hearing
all the parties and also summoning those persons as well, who are
stated to have been transferred the vehicle, so as to release the
vehicle for the interim custody by imposing sufficient conditions for
the production of the vehicle at the appropriate stage.
07. Disposed of along with connected application(s), if any.
(M A CHOWDHARY)
JUDGE
JAMMU
27.07.2026
Bunty
Whether the order is speaking: Yes
Whether the order is reportable: Yes
CRM(M) No. 189/2023 Page 3 of 3
