1998 (2) TMI 298

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....s who had exported 125 Metric Tonnes of Copper Wire Bars from Rotterdam (Belgium) to Nhava Sheva in favour of the consignee namely Respondent No. 5, Sharp Menthol India Pvt. Ltd. on 22nd June, 1997. It appears that the consignee, inspite of repeated notices from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust Authorities, did not bother to clear the goods lying in the port. Ultimately, the Port Trust Authorities, after complying with the provisions of Sections 61 and 62 of the Major Port Turst Act, held an auction of the aforesaid Copper Wire Bars on 26th December, 1997 wherein the Respondent No. 4 was the successful bidder. The Petitioner, in Writ Petition No. 18 of 1998 namely M/s. Glencore (India) Pvt. Ltd. had not received payment from the consignee an....

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....ly while typing it was wrongly typed as "NETT ELECTR". This is how the mistake seems to have occurred and ultimately even in the public notices which have been published in newspapers and also in Gazette carries the same mistake. The contention of the Petitioner in Writ Petition No. 471 of 1998 is that they are dealers in Ferrous Metals and as they were not aware of the description of the goods they could not take part in the aforesaid public auction, in view of the totally wrong and meaningless description of the goods as "Nett Electr". The learned Counsel for the Petitioner in the said petition also brought to our notice that the total quantity of Electrolytic Copper Wire Bars, which was auctioned on that day was 1,25,565 Kgs. of which th....

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....arned Counsel is that as his client is bona fide purchaser of the said goods at the auction held by the Port Trust Authority hence ought not to be disturbed. 6. Whereas the Petitioners in both the petitions contend that the auction held by the Port Trust Authorites is totally vitiated inasmuch as the auction notices all throughout wrongly describe the cargo as "Nett Electr". which has no meaning at all. The learned Counsel for the auction purchaser states that "Nett Electr." means Electrolytic Copper Wire Bars. It appears that Electrolytic process is even adopted in case of Lead, Zinc and various other metals. The word `Nett' can obviously play no role in describing the goods. Similarly, the word `Electr.' also cannot describe any g....