TMI Blog1951 (7) TMI 23X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... se of the press as a going concern so that the Court might be in a position to decide whether the press should be sold at a public sale or at a sale confined to the parties. Apparently no satisfactory offers were obtained and on 8th January 1951, the learned Judge decided that the press should be sold as a going concern by the Joint Receiver at a public sale. The parties to the suit were given liberty to bid at the sale on the same terms as the other bidders. The sale was to be effected after wide publicity. In pursuance of this order, the Joint Receiver, an Advocate of this Court, after giving such publicity as he thought was proper conducted the sale on 25th March 1951. There were twelve bidders and it is admitted that besides the first d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was contended before the learned Judge on behalf of the auction purchaser that as there was no irregularity in the conduct of the sale, the Court should not set aside the entire auction proceedings conducted by the joint receiver under orders of the Court, and the highest bid which he made should be accepted by the Court and the sale concluded in his favour. The learned Judge did not accept this contention. In his opinion, the price fetched at the auction sale was not adequate and he did not agree with the learned counsel for the auction purchaser that the Court could not refuse to confirm the sale to the highest bidder merely on the ground of apparent inadequacy of price. He came to the conclusion that the offer of ₹ 42,000 made by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... concluded contract between him and the joint receiver on behalf of the Court, a contract can be enforced by him even as against the Court. This contention was obviously not open to him in view of the express provision in the conditions of sale that the sale was subject to confirmation by this Court. Even in the absence of such a condition the result might have been the same--Vide 'Ratnasami Pillai v. Satapathi Pillai', AIR (12) 1925 Mad 318. 3. Learned counsel for the appellant, therefore, did not base his client's case on any enforceable right, but he relied on what he contended was a rule of public policy calculated to impress on the public the sanctity of sales conducted under orders of Court, namely, that the highest bid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ecause at a later stage some one in second thought says that he is willing to pay more. It is only right and proper that the sale should be subject to the confirmation of the Court. The condition is a safeguard against irregularity or fraud in connection with the sale and against property being sold at an inadequate price. No such consideration applies here. It was not even suggested before them that the highest bid at the auction was inadequate. In our opinion, the facts of the case now before us are completely different from the facts in the case decided by the Division Bench. It is true that there is no suggestion of irregularity or fraud, but there was certainly a complaint of inadequacy of price. As the plaintiff eventually was wil ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... regularity or fraud and if the Court were to interfere with such bids, simply because there was a higher bid before the Court at the time of the confirmation. We realise that this may be the result if the Court were to refuse the highest bid, say, of ₹ 10,000 merely because a party at the time of confirmation offers ₹ 10,000. But in our opinion, a sale conducted by an officer of Court would equally become a farce if the Court is obliged to accept the highest bid at such a sale, though the court is convinced that the bid does not represent adequately the real price of the property. In these matters it is not safe to lay down any rule of thumb. The facts of each particular case would ultimately mould the exercise of discretion by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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