Completed liquidation sales remain final absent proved fraud, while supervening bankruptcy can defeat maintainability of the challenge.

A completed liquidation auction, followed by confirmation of sale and issuance of the sale certificate, is ordinarily not disturbed absent substantiated fraud or legal infirmity. The Tribunal rejected objections based on alleged inadequate publication, reserve price reduction, collusion, and non-registration of the sale certificate, holding that the auction complied with the liquidation regulations and that registration was not required. It also held that a subsequent bankruptcy order under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code rendered the appellant's challenge unsustainable and the appeal not maintainable in the changed factual and legal position.

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Issues: (i) Whether the appeal challenging the liquidation auction and connected interlocutory orders survived in view of the appellant's subsequent declaration as a bankrupt and the consequent challenge to locus and maintainability; (ii) Whether the e-auction, sale certificate, and the liquidation process required interference on the grounds of alleged irregularity, fraud, and non-compliance with the liquidation regulations.

Issue (i): Whether the appeal challenging the liquidation auction and connected interlocutory orders survived in view of the appellant's subsequent declaration as a bankrupt and the consequent challenge to locus and maintainability.

Analysis: The appellant's status as shareholder and personal guarantor lost practical significance after the subsequent bankruptcy order under Sections 121 and 123 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The challenge to the interlocutory reliefs also became academic once the main application concerning the auction stood decided. The Tribunal further relied on the absence of a sustainable basis to continue the appeal in the changed factual and legal situation.

Conclusion: The challenge did not survive and the appeal was not maintainable on the altered subsequent facts.

Issue (ii): Whether the e-auction, sale certificate, and the liquidation process required interference on the grounds of alleged irregularity, fraud, and non-compliance with the liquidation regulations.

Analysis: The objections regarding inadequate publication, reduction of reserve price, alleged collusion, and non-registration of the sale certificate were rejected. The Tribunal accepted the finding that the alleged fraud was not substantiated, held that the auction process complied with the liquidation regulations, noted that publication was made in widely circulated newspapers, and applied the principle that a sale certificate does not require registration under the registration law. It also treated the completion of the auction, confirmation of sale, and issuance of the sale certificate as bringing finality to the process.

Conclusion: No interference was warranted and the challenge to the auction failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was dismissed because the challenge had become unsustainable after the appellant's bankruptcy and, independently, no legal infirmity was found in the completed liquidation sale process.

Ratio Decidendi: A completed liquidation sale, after confirmation and issuance of sale certificate, will not ordinarily be disturbed in the absence of substantiated fraud or legal infirmity, and a supervening bankruptcy order can render the appellant's challenge infructuous.

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