( 1. ) THE petitioner has come up with the above writ petition challenging a demand made by the first respondent herein for payment of ground rent, for allowing extension of time to them to take delivery of the material purchased by them in an auction held by the respondents.

( 2. ) I have heard Mr.C.K.Rajan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.V.Radhakrishnan, learned senior counsel for the respondents.

The first respondent herein published an auction catalogue in their website for a public auction to be held on 19.01.2010 at the Combined Scrap Stores Depot, Golden Rock. The catalogue contained 72 items proposed to be auctioned. Each of those items was described seriatim, such as GAJ1, GAJ2, etc., upto GAJ-72.

( 3. ) LOT No.64 indicated by code word "GAJ64" was described in the catalogue as follows:

Auction LOT No. PL No. LOT Qty Sale unit No. Description -------- ------------------------------- --------- ---------- GAJ64 058300909 98032252 4.000 NUMBER LOC. AT BRIDGE NO.633 @ KM 237/6-7 IN MV-VM SECTION DESC: RELD. GIRDER THROUGH TYPE 45.720 MTRS WITH BED PLATE 16 NOS. SPAN - 4 NOS/ 448.080 MTS. LOT BASIS. NFS-1) PHOSPER BRONZE STRIP 2'.10" x 4" x 1/2" - 32 NOS (2) G