Dear All,
I have re-summarised my previous query with recent update as below,
Recently I have participated in an auction sale property and after highest bidder bank has issued sale letter and gave us the physical possession of the property and we are staying in that house... Recently we have received pending electricity bill, holding tax and water bill of amount 1 lakhs 80 thousand and this thing was completely unaware by us. Now the bank is telling is that, we the highest bidder is the responsibility to pay these pending dues..
Auction sale terms and conditions: I have copied the auction sale clause for your reference,
Reviewing the section VI, “”The bank will not be liable for past, present and future statutory/Institutional or any other dues already accrued on the assets prior to and/or after sale””….
Section V, revealed that the sale of the asset(s) is on “AS IS WHERE IS AND WHAT EVER THERE IS BASIS”
Point in the sale letter
After paying full bid amount bank has issued a sale letter and relevant point is mentioned is copied as below,
“””The sale of the scheduled property was made free from all encumbrances known to the secured creditors listed below on deposit of the money demanded by the undersigned…
Descripttion of the property
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
At last also mentioned as “List of encumbrances NIL”
Information gathered through internet and recent judgement
In internet source I read the article about this matter and copied as below,
“”In a recent order, the Supreme Court (referred to as SC hereupon) has ruled that the buyer of an auctioned property will not be liable to pay off the outstanding dues of the previous owner. The judgment pertained to a Southern Power Distribution Co vs Gopal Agarwal case. In this case, Agarwal bought a property from the City Union Bank which was previously owned by a company that defaulted on its loan to the bank. As a result of which, the property was re-possessed and auctioned’’’.
Now in summary,
- Reviewing the various informations available in internet, and some where it mention that, for auction sale properties all pending dues (such as electricity bill and holding tax etc) has to settle by the highest bidder and bank or previous owner is not responsible for that.
- On the otherhand supreme court judgement revealed that the pending all dues is the responsibility of the Bank (selling organization).
My Query:
- I have requested to the Bank to clear the pending dues and in return bank has replied as “as per the advertisement clause, any type of dues pending against the said house is the only responsibility of the successful bidder”.
- I read in web search and its listed that, bank was supposed to take NOC from different authority (electric board and holding tax board), then only they are supposed to comment as “the scheduled property was made free from all encumbrances….) in the sale letter.
- Now reviewing the various points, and reviewing the supreme court judgement, it should be the responsibility of the Bank to settle the pending dues. Whereas their advertisement, tender paper is saying that to pay by the highest bidder.
- Now thing is that, electric authority has disconnected the connection and after payment they connected again to our house.
Dear Experts, Now I am now in completely dilemma which court to proceed, lower court or higher court? Lower court, our advocate told that there may be fees of around 10000 to 12000 need to pay..and after that the fee includes total we spend about 35 to 40 K…
Now we are talking to high court for writ petition ..please advice which option is good?
Many thanks in advance..
Some Key References:
1. The_Corporation_Bank_&_Another_vs_Dr._Jayesh_Kumar_Jha_on_3_September,_2019
2. Southern_Power_Distribution_..._vs_Gopal_Agarwal_on_27_July,_2017
3. WP(C)1763_19(11.09.19)
4. Smt.Rekha_Sahu_vs_The_Uco_Bank_[Acquisition_And_..._on_20_August,_2013 (1)
5. MSTT_JUDGEMENTS_10_23_15_11_57_7AM_0 (1)
