In the present writ petition, the petitioner has primarily prayed for quashing the auction sale of the mortgaged property of the petitioner and also for quashing the alleged calculation, statement of account and demand of Rs. 31.79 crore made thereon. It has further been prayed for issuance of direction upon the respondent authorities to produce the valuation report.

2. The factual background of the case as stated in the writ petition is that the petitioner was engaged in the business of manufacturing of chemical products and for the purpose of financial assistance, it approached the respondent-Bihar State Credit & Investment Corporation (BICICO) for sanction of term loan of Rs. 85 lakhs out of which the BICICO sanctioned the loan of Rs. 79 lakhs. The petitioner furnished securities against the said loan by hypothecating and mortgaging the movable and immovable properties. According to the petitioner, though the respondent-BICICO while releasing the part loan, issued cheques of Rs. 25 lakhs, yet the same got dishonored for insufficient fund. On 14.09.1998, the petitioner wrote to the Industrial Development Commissioner, Government of Bihar complaining about the failure on the part of BICICO in disbursal of loan and in making adjustment in release of the loan amount towards interest, whereupon the Director of Industries, Government of Bihar, vide letter 06.11.1998 sought report from the BICICO. However, no report was given and due to such act of the BICICO, the factory of the petitioner suffered closer for want of capital. The loan account of the petitioner became irregular in the year 1999 and till 31.03.2000, the amount receivable as per BICICO’s notice dated 05.04.2000 was Rs. 69,04,278/- which included interest of Rs. 44,04,278/-. The petitioner was asked to settle outstanding amount of Rs. 1,02,00,000/- under the OTS-2009 vide letter dated 29.12.2010, however, the petitioner could not avail the same as it had gone financially crippled by that time. Again on 19.08.2015, OTS-2015 was floated by the respondent-BICICO under which the payable amount was Rs. 1,58,00,000/-, however, the petitioner was not aware of the said scheme and hence, it could not avail the same. On 31.03.2016, the respondent-BICICO sent reminder to the petitioner to deposit the outstanding dues as on 31.03.2016 amounting to Rs. 31,79,10,000/- out of which the principal was Rs. 79 lakhs. Thereafter, the respondent-BICICO issued notice no. 331 dated 09.09.2016 under Section 29 and 30 of the State Financial Corporation Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as “SFC Act”) to the petitioner to discharge the full liability, failing which the mortgaged property would be auctioned. The petitioner replied the said notice on 21.09.2016 showing its eagerness for one time settlement of the loan amount with reduced interest burden and requested the respondent-BICICO to allow three months’ time to finalize the matter and in the meantime to put the advertisement for sale of mortgaged assets on hold. The respondent no. 2 – the Manager, BICICO, Patna vide letter dated 03.10.2016, informed the petitioner that no OTS scheme was prevailing as on date, therefore, they would be unable to consider the petitioner’s offer for waiving the entire interest burden. The respondent-BICICO evaluated the value of the mortgaged property through a registered valuer at Rs. 71.42 lakhs which was found below the existing principal outstanding loan amount of Rs. 79 lakhs, therefore the minimum reserve price was fixed at Rs. 79 lakhs. On 06.12.2016, the respondent-BICICO published the sale notice in Hindi Newspaper “Prabhat Khabar”, Ranchi, “Hindustan”, Patna and English Newspaper “The Times of India”, Patna. Seven tenderers participated in the auction process and the tenders were opened on 12.01.2017 by the tender committee in terms with the NIT in the presence of the seven tenderers. Out of all the participants, the respondent no. 4 – M/s Bhawani Enterprises, Patna offered the highest bid