Expired bank guarantee papers must be returned once interim security lapses; unrelated undertakings cannot be added from separate appeals.

Expired bank guarantee papers furnished only as interim security lost operative value once the guarantee was not revalidated, so the revenue had no basis to retain the originals and had to return them. A further undertaking linked to separate pending tax appeals could not be imposed in this writ proceeding because it was unrelated to the relief sought and arose from independent proceedings. The operative principle is that an authority cannot continue to hold expired security documents or attach conditions drawn from separate appellate matters to the pending petition.

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Issues: (i) Whether the revenue was required to return the expired bank guarantee papers furnished pursuant to the interim direction; (ii) whether the petitioners could be called upon, in this petition, to furnish an undertaking in relation to the pending tax appeals.

Issue (i): Whether the revenue was required to return the expired bank guarantee papers furnished pursuant to the interim direction.

Analysis: The bank guarantee had been furnished only as interim security in compliance with the earlier order, but it had expired and was not revalidated. Once the guarantee had ceased to subsist, the paper security had no operative value for the revenue. In that situation, there was no basis to retain the original documents.

Conclusion: The revenue was required to return the expired bank guarantee papers to the petitioners.

Issue (ii): Whether the petitioners could be called upon, in this petition, to furnish an undertaking in relation to the pending tax appeals.

Analysis: The request for an undertaking was linked to the separate pending tax appeals and not to the relief sought in the present petition. The proceedings were independent, and the pending appeals could not be used to impose an additional condition in this writ petition.

Conclusion: The petitioners could not be required to furnish such an undertaking in this proceeding.

Final Conclusion: The petition succeeded, and the authority was directed to hand over the expired bank guarantee papers to the petitioners without imposing the suggested undertaking condition.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a bank guarantee furnished as interim security has expired and is not revalidated, the issuing authority cannot retain the original papers, and a condition unrelated to the relief in the pending writ petition cannot be imposed by reference to separate appellate proceedings.

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