JUDGMENT :

(Prayer: Writ Petition filed Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for issuance of a writ of certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records from the 2nd respondent pertaining to his proceedings in No.00/12/RM Sales/14-15/200014091243, quash the order dated 28.10.2014 and consequently direct the 2nd respondent to refund the EMD amount of Rs.3,82,973/- together with interest @ 18% from 11.09.2014 to till the date of payment.)

1. The order dated 28.10.2014 forfeiting the EMD amount is sought to be quashed in the present writ petition and a direction is sought to refund the EMD amount of Rs.3,82,973/- along with the interest.

2. The petitioner is a Private Limited Company and dealing with the business of iron and steel scrap. The second respondent conducted an e-auction in respect of certain steel scrap material and published the said auction. The petitioner company decided to bid for the materials mentioned in Serial No.A2 in lot No.200014091244 stored at Sulurpet. The auction took place on 11.09.2014. The petitioner intended to quote a sum of Rs.24,945/- for the said lot. However, while typing the bid amount, it was wrongly typed as Rs.34,945/-. Since the e-auctions concluded at a high speed making such typographical mistakes were common. Immediately, the petitioner wrote a letter to the second respondent on 11.09.2014 informing him about the mistake and requested the second respondent to cancel the bid offered by the writ petitioner and to refund the EMD. However, the second respondent, by order dated 11.09.2014 (on the same day), accepted the bid of the petitioner fixing the sale value at Rs.38,29,727/-. After deducting the EMD amount, the petitioner was directed to pay the balance of Rs.36,78,452.48 paise.

3. The petitioner submitted a representation in this regard elaborating the mistake committed by them and further informing the Railways that the said mistake was informed to the authorities competent on the same day immediately on 11.09.2014. Without even considering the said information, on the very same day, they have accepted the bid. Under these circumstances, the petitioner is constrained to move the present writ petition.

4. The petitioner relied on the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Mohammed Gazi Vs. State of M.P. reported in 2000 (4) SCC 1806 wherein the Hon'ble Apex Court observed as under:

"The other maxim is, lex non cogit ad impossibilia - the law does not compel a man to do which he cannot possibly perform. The law itself and its administration is understood to disclaim as it does in its general aphorisms, all intention of compelling impossibilities, and the administration of law must adopt that general exception in the consideration of particular cases. The applicability of the aforesaid maxims has been approved by this Court in Raj Kumar Dey & Ors.vs. Tarapada Dey & Ors.[1987 (4) SCC 398] and Gursharan Singh & Ors vs. NDMC & Ors. [1996 (2) SCC 459].

5. It is contended that the impugned order is directly in violation of the ratio laid down by the Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court in the case of Registrar, Indian Institute of Technology Vs. Hameed Enterprises reported in 2015 (1) CTC 696 (DB), wherein, in paragraph 15, the Division Bench has observed as follows:

"15. The action of the appellant in accepting the bid amount of the writ petitioner was also not proper. When the figure quoted was astronomical and certainly much more than the value of the scraps comparing with the amount quoted by other bidders, the appellant ought to have examined the fact as to whether it was a mistake or genuine. In such a situation, the appellant ought not to have acted in haste in accepting the offer and conveying immediately in the late night to the writ petitioner requiring him to deposit the security money. In this background, it can safely be held that there was a typographical mistake in the amount quoted by the writ petitioner. Thus, both parties were at fault. What is good