Dr. Visu Sinnadurai J:

At the conclusion of the hearing of both these applications, this Court ruled that the orders sought for the sale of the charged properties by way of private treaties be refused, indicating that the reasons for the decision would be given subsequently in a written judgment. I now give my reasons for refusing the orders. A short but important issue with far-reaching practical consequences, particularly to banks and other financial institutions, arose for consideration in these applications. The question that arose in these two applications relates to the chargee's right to sell a charged land by way of a private treaty, subsequent to the making of an order for sale by the Court under s. 257 of the National Land Code. In both these applications, the chargee applied to the Court for an order to enable it to sell the charged property by way of private treaty.

The most common situation where a chargee applies to Court for such an order to enable it to sell the charged property by way of a private treaty is when, pursuant to s. 256 of the National Land Code, an order had been made by the Court to sell the charged property by way of a public auction, but t