SARFAESI auction bidders gain no vested right to confirmation unless the bid is formally accepted and sale is completed.

In a SARFAESI auction, the highest bidder acquires no vested or enforceable right to confirmation unless the bid is accepted and confirmed in accordance with the auction terms and law. A communication naming the bidder as highest bidder is only an intimation, not a completed sale, and the secured creditor may proceed until sale is lawfully completed while the mortgagor's redemption right subsists. On the refund issue, the entitlement to interest was not decided below, so the matter required fresh consideration by the appellate tribunal and was remanded for that limited purpose.

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Issues: (i) Whether the highest bidder acquired a concluded and binding right to confirmation of sale under the SARFAESI auction process. (ii) Whether the petitioner was entitled to interest on refund of the auction amount and whether that question required remand.

Issue (i): Whether the highest bidder acquired a concluded and binding right to confirmation of sale under the SARFAESI auction process.

Analysis: The communication declaring the bidder as the highest bidder was only an intimation and not a confirmation of sale. The auction terms required confirmation by the authorised officer and the bidder had notice that confirmation depended on approval in the pending securitisation proceedings. Until the bid was accepted and confirmed, no concluded contract arose. The later order of the DRT also did not direct confirmation in favour of the petitioner, but left the bank at liberty to proceed with confirmation as per law. The decision further relied on the principle that under the SARFAESI framework, read with the enforcement rules and the mortgagor's right of redemption, the secured creditor may proceed only up to completion of sale in accordance with law, and the highest bidder has no vested right to insist on confirmation where the bid has not been accepted.

Conclusion: The petitioner had no enforceable right to confirmation of its bid, and the rejection of the writ challenge on this core issue was against the petitioner.

Issue (ii): Whether the petitioner was entitled to interest on refund of the auction amount and whether that question required remand.

Analysis: The order of the appellate tribunal did not deal with the question of interest at all. Since the entitlement to interest and the applicable rate and period were not adjudicated, the matter required reconsideration by the appellate tribunal.

Conclusion: The question of interest was remanded for fresh decision, and this limited relief was in favour of the petitioner.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition failed on the principal challenge to the auction-sale process and non-confirmation of the petitioner's bid, but the issue of interest on refund was sent back for fresh adjudication.

Ratio Decidendi: In a SARFAESI auction, the highest bidder acquires no vested right to confirmation unless the bid is accepted in accordance with the auction terms and law, and the mortgagor's right of redemption continues until sale is completed in the manner recognised by law.

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