Sh. Naresh Jain v. M/S Shaurya Housing Limited & Anr

judgment is as under: "8.1 Once the appellant was found to be the highest bidder in a public auction in which 45 persons had participated and thereafter when the sale was confirmed in his favour and even the sale deed was executed, unless and until it was found that there was any material irregularity and/or illegality in holding the public auction and/or auction/sale was vitiated by any fraud or collusion, it is not open to set aside the auction or sale in favour of a highest bidder on the basis of some representations made by third parties, who did not even participate in the auction proceedings and did not make any offer. In this context, we rely on the following observations of this Court in the case of Jasbhai Motibhai Desai Vs. Roshan Kumar, Haji Bashir Ahmed and Ors., (1976) 1 SCC 671 made in paragraphs 34, 37 and 49, which are as under…"

¶22From the above judgments, it is clear that reopening of auction proceedings which are concluded is not to be usually resorted to and there ought to be some finality. Moreover, there is no allegation of fraud, collusion, or any irregularity in the present case. Thus, this Court is inclined to accept the higher bid of Mr. Robin Aggarwal of Rs.13 crores.

¶23Mr. Robin Aggarwal is accordingly declared as the successful bidder at the price of Rs.13 crores. The said bidder shall now deposit 25% of Rs.13 crores i.e., Rs.3,25,00,000/- minus the amount of 25% of the earlier bid which has already been deposited i.e., Rs.2,03,67,918/- within one week i.e., Rs.1,21,32,082/- by 17th July 2023. The remaining bid amount shall be deposited with the OL within 60 days i.e., by 15th September, 2023.

¶24Upon deposit of the entire sale consideration, the possession of the property shall be handed over to the successful bidder and title deeds shall

be executed.

¶25CO.APPL. 401/2023, CO.APPL. 407/2023, CO.APPL. 481/2023 are disposed of in the above terms. CO.APPL. 398/2023 in CO. PET. 510/2014

¶26Insofar as CO.APPL. 398/2023 is concerned, on the last date, the bidder - M/s Ahuja and Anand had stated that his client is agreeable to protecting the right of way of the Applicant in CO.APPL. 398/2023.

¶27In the opinion of this Court, the successful bidder-Mr. Robin Aggarwal deserves to be heard in this application before any right can be granted to anyone as the same could affect his interest considerably. Accordingly, let reply be filed to this application within four weeks. Rejoinder within four weeks, thereafter.

¶28The successful bidder shall abide by the directions that may be passed by this Court in CO.APPL. 398/2023. On behalf of Mr. Aggarwal the Court is assured that the bid would not be revisited irrespective of the decision in this application.

¶29List this application for hearing on 15th September, 2023.

PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUDGE JULY 10, 2023 Rahul/SK

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of Decision: 10th July, 2023 + CO.PET. 510/2014 & CO.APPLs. 398/2023, 401/2023, 407/2023 SH. NARESH JAIN ..... Petitioner Through: Mr. Abhishek Singh, Adv. for Applicant in CO.APPL.407/2023 (M- 99102 91290). Mr. Manik Dogra, Mr Atul Sharma, Mr Aditya Vashisth and Ms. Himanshi Rajput, Advocates for Applicant - CA 398/2023. versus M/S SHAURYA HOUSING LIMITED & ANR. ..... Respondents Through: Mr T. Singhdev, Mr. P. S. Narang, Mr. Abhijit Chakravarty, Ms. Ramanpreet Kaur, Mr. Bhanu Gulati, Mr. Aabhas Sukhramani, Ms. Anum Hussain, Mr. Tanishq Srivastava, Advocates along with Mr. Robin Aggarwal in person. (M- 9999912345). Mr. Chandra Shekhar & Mr. Prashant Shekhar, Advocates for R-2 (M- 9810333257). Ms Ruchi Sindhwani, Sr. Standing Counsel, Ms Megha Bharara, Adv. for OL. CORAM: JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral) 1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode. CO.APPLs. 481/2023, 401/2023, 407/2023 2. By way of the present order the Court will be disposing the above three applications which have been filed in respect of auction and sale of land admeasuring 11,477 sq. mtrs. bearing khasra number 357 & 358, village Mauja Tehra, Vrindavan (hereinafter 'subject property') which is owned by Shaurya Housing Limited, the company under liquidation. The Court had vide order dated 3rd February, 2023 permitted the Official Liquidator (OL) to conduct e-auction of the subject property. 3. The said land was put to auction by the OL vide advertisement dated 5th May, 2023 with a reserve price of Rs.7,96,79,187/-. A bid to the tune of Rs.8,04,75,979/- was placed by one Robin Agarwal and he was declared the highest bidder. Mr. Robin Aggarwal deposited Rs. 79,67,918/- on 17th May 2023 as Earnest Money Deposit and further Rs.1,24,00,000/- was deposited on 24th May, 2023 in favour of the OL by way of a demand draft. 4. Thereafter, CO APPL. No.401/2023 came to be filed on 30th May, 2023 before the Court by one Ahuja and Anand Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter 'Ahuja and Anand') seeking consideration of its bid of Rs.10.05 crores for purchasing the subject property. It was the case of Ahuja and Anand that it could not come to know about the sale of the subject property. The application further emphasises that its bid is 25% higher than the accepted bid. 5. Another application being CO APPL. No.398/2023 was filed on 30th May, 2023 by one Delux Constructions Pvt. Ltd. The said Applicant is stated to have a portion of land which is situated behind the subject property. By way of the application, free right of way was sought from the common approach road on the subject property. CA No. 407/2023 was also filed on 30th May, 2023 by the OL seeking approval of Mr. Robin Agrawal's bid. 6. CA. No. 481/2023 has been filed on 7th July, 2023 by one of the ex- directors of the company under liquidation seeking cancellation of the auction and directions for fresh valuation of the subject property. 7. On 2nd June, 2023, the Court passed the following order: "1. In the e-auction of Company's land admeasuring 11,477 sq. meter situated at Khata No. 12 and Khasra No. 358 and Khata No. 227 and Khasra No. 357, Village Tehra, Vrindavan [hereinafter, "subject property"] held on 19th May, 2023, bid of Rs. 8,04,75,979/- of one Mr. Robin Agarwal has been declared the highest. Ahuja and Anand Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. (Applicant in CO. APPL. 40112023) contends that the said bid does not reflect the true value of the subject property and has offered Rs. 10.05 crores for purchase of the property. To show their bona fides, Mr. Abhishek Singh, counsel for Ahuja and Anand Buildwell Pvt. Ltd., has handed over cheque No. 580466 for 25% of the offered amount to Ms. Ruchi Sindhwani, Senior Standing Counsel for Official Liquidator ['OL' ], which has been accepted without prejudice to her rights and contentions. The OL is permitted to put this amount in a Fixed Deposit Receipt. 2. Mr. Singh, on instructions, states that his client i