JUDGMENT :

DIPANKAR DATTA, J.

THE CHALLENGE

1. Ahmednagar District Central Cooperative Bank Limited¹ [appellant, hereafter] is in appeal, challenging the judgment and order dated 23rd November, 2017² [impugned judgment, hereafter] of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Bench at Aurangabad³ [High Court, hereafter] dismissing its writ petition.⁴ [Writ Petition No. 10866 of 2016] Under challenge in the writ petition was an auction sale pertaining to the immovable property of Mula Sahakari Soot Girni Ltd., Rahuri.⁵ [society, hereafter] The challenge was primarily based on twin grounds: (i) that valuation of the property of the society (under liquidation) and the upset price were fixed on the lower side and (ii) that three bidders had not participated in the auction sale. The High Court did not find substance in any of these two grounds. Incidentally, the High Court recorded that no mala fide could be attributed in respect of the questioned auction sale and that the auction purchaser was not a private individual but a body established under the statute, i.e. the Agricultural Produce Market Committee, Rahuri.⁶ [respondent no. 6, hereafter]

THE FACTS

2. The basic facts leading to the quest