TMI Blog1969 (9) TMI 109X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is no liability imposed on the respondent for payment of the deficiency in the price. For these reasons we hold that the judgment of the Punjab High Court dated August 19, 1963 in L.P.A. No. 50-D of 1960 is correct and this appeal must be dismissed. - Civil Appeal No. 1613 of 1966 - - - Dated:- 29-9-1969 - RAMASWAMI, V., SHAH, J.C. AND GROVER, A.N., JJ. For the Appellant : V.A. Seyid Muhammad, S.P. Nayar and B.D. Sharma For the Respondent : S.T. Desai, K.L.Arora, Bishambar Lal and H.K. Puri JUDGMENT Ramaswami, J. This appeal is brought by certificate from the judgment of the Division Bench of the Punjab High Court dated August 19, 1963 in Letters Patent Appeal No. 50- D of 1960. An auction was held for the sale of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the highest bid of Rs. 2,20,000/- which was confirmed by the Chief Commissioner, on July 7, 1949. Holding the respondent liable for the loss of Rs. 1,81,000 being the difference between the bid of the respondent and of Messrs Daulat Ram Amar Snigh the Collector of Delhi started proceedings for the recovery of Rs. 1,81,000,./. On July 22, 1949 the respondent filed a suit in the court of Senior Subordinate Judge, Delhi praying for a permanent injunction restraining the appellants from taking any proceedings to recover the amount. The trial judge decreed the suit holding that the sale was subject to confirmation by the Chief Commissioner under cl. 33 and since the auction in favour of the respondent was not accepted by him there was no bindin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uses to accept the license, the Collector may resell the license, either by public auction or by private contract, and any deficiency in price and all expenses of such resale or attempted resale shall be recoverable from the defaulting bidder in the manner laid down in section 60 of the Punjab Excise Act, 1 of 1914, as applied to the Delhi Province. Rule 22 states: "When a license has been cancelled, the Collector may resell it by public auction or by private contract and any deficiency in price and all expenses of such resale or attempted resale shall be recoverable from the defaulting licensee in the manner laid down in section 60 of the Excise Act as applied .to the Delhi Province." On behalf of the appellants it was conte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... any breach of contract or for the shortfall on the resale. An acceptance of an offer may be either absolute or conditional. If the acceptance is conditional the offer can be withdrawn at any moment until absolute acceptance has taken place. This view is borne out by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Hussey v. HornePayne([1878] 8 Ch. D. 670 at 676). In that case V offered land to P and P accepted 'subject to the title being approved by my solicitors'. V later refused to go on with the contract and the Court of Appeal held that the acceptance was conditional and there was no binding contract and that V could withdraw at any time Until P's solicitors had approved the title. Jessel, M.R. observed at p. 626 of the report as follows: ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ve already shown the first part of cl. 21 deals with a completed sale and the second part deals with a situation where the auction is conducted by an officer lower in rank than the Collector. In the latter case the rule makes it clear that if any person whose bid has been accepted by the officer presiding at the auction fails to make the deposit of one-sixth of the annual fee, or if he refuses to accept the licence, the Collector may resell the licenee, either by public auction or by private contract and any deficiency in price and all expenses of such resale shall be recoverable from the defaulting bidder. In the present case the first part of cl. 21 applies. It is not disputed that the Chief Commissioner has disapproved the bid offered by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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