Raiganj Consumer Forum vs Union Of India

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2018 Supreme(SC) 1568

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Kurian Joseph, Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, JJ.
M/s. Raiganj Consumer Forum - Appellant
Versus
Union Of India - Respondent
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 188 of 2004 with T.C.(C) Nos.19 of 2005, 24 of 2005, 2 of 2004, 1 of 2004, 3 of 2004, 10 of 2004, 59 of 2003, 60 of 2003, 68 of 2003, 69 of 2003, 70 of 2003, 71 of 2003, 72 of 2003, 73 of 2003, 74 of 2003, 76 of 2003, 77 of 2003, 78 of 2003, 79 of 2003, 80 of 2003, 81 of 2003, 58 of 2005, 83 of 2003, 84 of 2003, 85 of 2003, 86 of 2003, 88 of 2003, 89 of 2003, 90 of 2003, 91 of 2003, 92 of 2003, 93 of 2003, 94 of 2003, 49 of 2005, 97 of 2003, 50 of 2005, 98 of 2003, 51 of 2005, 53 of 2005, 101 of 2003, 54 of 2005, 102 of 2003, 55 of 2005, 103 of 2003, 56 of 2005, 104 of 2003, 57 of 2005, 105 of 2003, 107 of 2003, 109 of 2003, 110 of 2003, 111 of 2003, 112 of 2003, 115 of 2003, 116 of 2003, 117 of 2003, 118 of 2003, 119 of 2003, 120 of 2003, 121 of 2003, 122 of 2003, 123 of 2003, 125 of 2003, 126 of 2003, 128 of 2003, 129 of 2003, 130 of 2003, 131 of 2003, 132 of 2003, 133 of 2003, 134 of 2003, 135 of 2003, 136 of 2003, 137 of 2003, 138 of 2003, 139 of 2003, 140 of 2003, 141 of 2003, 142 of 2003, 143 of 2003, 144 of 2003, 147 of 2003, 148 of 2003, 149 of 2003, 151 of 2003, 152 of 2003, 153 of 2003, 155 of 2003, 156 of 2003, 157 of 2003, 158 of 2003, 159 of 2003, 160 of 2003, 161 of 2003, 162 of 2003, 163 of 2003, 164 of 2003, 165 of 2003, 166 of 2003, 167 of 2003, 169 of 2003, 170 of 2003, 171 of 2003, 172 of 2003. 173 of 2003, 174 of 2003, 175 of 2003, 176 of 2003, 177 of 2003, 178 of 2003, 179 of 2003, 180 of 2003, 181 of 2003, 182 of 2003, 183 of 2003, 184 of 2003, 185 of 2003, 186 of 2003, 187 of 2003, 188 of 2003, 189 of 2003, 190 of 2003, 191 of 2003, 192 of 2003, 193 of 2003, 194 of 2003, 195 of 2003, 197 of 2003, 198 of 2003, 199 of 2003, 200 of 2003, 202 of 2003, 203 of 2003, 204 of 2003, 205 of 2003, 206 of 2003, 207 of 2003, 208 of 2003, 209 of 2003, 210 of 2003, 211 of 2003, 212 of 2003, 213 of 2003, 214 of 2003, 216 of 2003, 217 of 2003, 218 of 2003, 219 of 2003, 220 of 2003, 221 of 2003, 222 of 2003, 223 of 2003, 224 of 2003, 225 of 2003, 228 of 2003, 229 of 2003, 230 of 2003, 231 of 2003, 232 of 2003, 233 of 2003, 234 of 2003, 235 of 2003, 236 of 2003, 237 of 2003, 238 of 2003, 239 of 2003, 240 of 2003, 241 of 2003, 242 of 2003, 243 of 2003, 244 of 2003, 245 of 2003, 247 of 2003, 248 of 2003, 249 of 2003, 251 of 2003, 252 of 2003, 254 of 2003, 255 of 2003, 256 of 2003, 257 of 2003, 258 of 2003, 259 of 2003, 260 of 2003, 261 of 2003, 262 of 2003, 95 of 2003, 124 of 2003, 146 of 2003, 201 of 2003, 215 of 2003, 226 of 2003, 227 of 2003, 82 of 2003 and 154 of 2003 MA 151/2018 in T.C.(C) No. 2 of 2004 (IA No. 8286 of 2018-Clarification/direction)
Decided On : 09-05-2018

Advocates Appeared:
Mr. Dushyant Dave, Sr. Advocate Mr. Shantanu Bhawmik, Advocate Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Daniel Stone Lyngdoh, Advocate Mr. K.V. Khar Lyngdoh, Advocate Mr. Kapil Sibal,Sr. Advocate Mr. Rakesh Khanna,Sr. Advocate Mr. B.H. Marlapalle,Sr. Advocate Mr. A.K.Chawdhary, Advocate Mr. Mike Desai, Advocate Mr. Vinay Rajput, Advocate Mr. Ajay Chawdhary, Advocate Mr. Mohit Nagar, Advocate Mr. Ajit Wagh, Advocate Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Drishti Rathore, Advocate Mr. Tushar Mehta,ASG Mr. Bhargava V. Desai, AOR Mr. Akshat Malpani, Advocate Mr. Abhishek M.Singhvi,Sr. Advocate Mr. Ranjit Kumar,Sr. Advocate Mr. Neeraj Kishan Kaul,Sr. Advocate Mr. Aman Vachher, Advocate Ms. Tushara James, Advocate Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, Advocate Mr. Avishkar Singhvi, Advocate Mr. Dhiraj, Advocate Ms. Drishti S.Rathore, Advocate Mr. Abhishek Chauhan, Advocate Ms. Anshu Vachher, Advocate Mr. Arun Nagar, Advocate Mr. P. N. Puri, AOR Mr. Vikas Singh,Sr. Advocate Mr. Anil K.Sharma, Advocate Mr. Rajesh Sharma, Advocate Mr. Rajeev Kumar Gupta, Advocate Ms. Nidhi Singh Dubey, Advocate Mr. Shafiq Khan, Advocate Ms. Shalu Sharma, AOR Mr. Sanjiv Sen,Sr. Advocate Mr. Harpal Singh Saini, Advocate Mr. Rahul Arya, Advocate Mr. Sayan Ray, Advocate Mr. Gaurav Dhingra, Advocate Mr. Mohan Jain,Sr. Advocate Mr. Vikram Jain, Advocate Mr. Anup Kumar Mishra, Advocate Ms. Archana Maharaj, Advocate Dr. M.K.Ravi, Advocate Ms. Tanuj Bagga, AOR Mr. K.Radhakrishna,Sr. Advocate Mr. Bhuvan Mishra, Advocate Ms. Gargi Khanna, Advocate Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR Ms. Suruchii Aggarwal, AOR Mr. Prashant Chauhan, Advocate Mr. Somnath Mukherjee, AOR Mr. P. D. Sharma, AOR Ms. Anubha Agrawal, Advocate Dr. Kailash Chand, AOR Mr. Naresh Bakshi, AOR Ms. Minakshi Vij, AOR Mr. R. C. Kaushik, AOR Mr. Siddhartha Chowdhury, AOR Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR Mr. A. P. Mohanty, AOR Mr. Arun K. Sinha, AOR Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR Ms. Chitra Markandaya, AOR Mr. D. N. Goburdhan, AOR Ms. Varsha Singh Choudhry, Advocate Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Advocate Mr. S.K.Rajora, Advocate For Mr. Kusum Chaudhary, AOR Mr. M. C. Dhingra, AOR Mr. Surya Kant, AOR Mr. Tara Chandra Sharma, AOR Mr. Ugra Shankar Prasad, AOR Mr. Somnath Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Yash Pal Dhingra, AOR Ms. Minakshi Vij, AOR Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. K. S. Rana, AOR Mr. Vishwajit Singh, AOR Mr. Abhijit Sengupta, AOR M/S. K J John And Co, AOR Mr. G. Ramakrishna Prasad, AOR Dr. Kailash Chand, AOR Mr. Ashwani Kumar, AOR Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR Mr. Ajay Sharma, AOR Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR Mr. S. Ravi Shankar, AOR M/S. K. Ramkumar and Associates, AOR M/S. Ap and J Chambers, AOR Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan, AOR Mr. Shailendra Bhardwaj, AOR Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR Mr. Shree Pal Singh, AOR Ms. Sunita Sharma, AOR Mr. Chander Shekhar Ashri, AOR Mrs. S. Usha Reddy, AOR Mr. Jatinder Kumar Sethi, Advocate Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, Advocate Mr. Jatinder Kumar Bhatia, AOR Mr. Rana Ranjit Singh, AOR Mr. Arun Kumar Beriwal, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, AOR., for the Appearing Parties

Headnote:
Court Order - Auction of Properties - The court directed the Committee to furnish details of properties available for sale, upload the particulars on their website, and conduct the auction on 'as is where is basis' condition.
Fact of the Case:

The court directed the Committee to furnish details of properties available for sale, upload the particulars on their website, and conduct the auction on 'as is where is basis' condition.
Finding of the Court:

The court found that the properties available for sale needed to be clearly listed and made available for public participation in the auction.
Issues: Verification of Bank Guarantee, Furnishing of Property Details, Participation in Auction
Ratio Decidendi: The court's decision was influenced by the need for transparency and public participation in the auction process, as well as the requirement for wide publicity and clear listing of properties.
Final Decision: The court directed the Committee to verify the Bank Guarantee, furnish property details, conduct the auction on 'as is where is basis' condition, and provide wide publicity for the auction.

ORDER

1. A copy of the affidavit given in Court by the Principal Commissioner, Income Tax, Chandigarh is taken on record.

2. Mr. Dipinder Singh, Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of Punjab is present. A copy of the affidavit given in Court on behalf of the Government of Punjab furnishing the particulars of the surplus land is taken on record. The appearance of the officer is dispensed with.

3. Mr. Vinod Prasad Raturi, Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of Uttarakhand is present. A copy of the affidavit given in Court by the Government of Uttarakhand furnishing the particulars of the surplus land is taken on record. The presence of the officer is dispensed with until further orders. Any of the parties to these writ petitions are free to respond to the reports filed by the States of Punjab and Uttarakhand as also to the affidavit filed by the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Chandigarh.

4. The Registry is directed to verify the Bank Guarantee.

5. By our order dated 11 th April, 2018, we recorded that the best offer for purchase of the properties reached upto Rs.721,00,00,000/- (Rupees seven hundred and twenty one crores) . It was also made clear that a further opportunity will be available to those who are otherwise interested to participate in the auction on 2 nd May, 2018. The Committee was also directed to give wide publicity for the proposed auction to be held on 2 nd May, 2018 so that others, if interested, could participate subject to the deposit/bank guarantee for an amount of Rs .721,00,00,000/- (Rupees seven hundred and twenty one crores). The matter was taken up on 2 nd May, 2018. It was noted that nobody was clear as to the extent and the items of properties. Therefore, this Court directed the Committee to furnish a list of properties showing the available particulars.

6. Accordingly, the Committee has filed a compliance report furnishing the details of properties available for sale. The available details include nature of the land/building, location, approximate area, Collector's rate and the valuation. We direct the Committee to upload the particulars of the properties furnished to this Court by their compliance report dated 3 rd May, 2018 on their website forthwith.

Post these matters on 17 th May, 2018.

7. We make it clear that anybody who is interested in participating in the auction in respect of the properties, particulars of which are available on the website of the Committee, shall be present in Court on that day and deposit or furnish bank guarantee for Rs.722,00,00,000/- (Rupees seven hundred and twenty two crores) with the Registry on or before 4 p.m. on 16 th May, 2018.

8. We further make it clear that in case anybody is interested in gathering any more information, they are free to approach the Committee regarding the same. The auction will be conducted on 'as is where is basis' condition. It is also made clear that auction will be on the principle of caveat emptor, meaning thereby that whatever be the deficiencies in the title and whatever be the litigation in respect of the properties, all that the buyers will have to take care of. It is also made clear that this will include the disputes on surplus land as well. We direct the Committee to give wide publicity to this order with the relevant part of this order. We also direct the Committee to publish the details of the properties as furnished to this Court in their affidavit dated 3 rd May, 2018 as part of the advertisement.

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