TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (7) TMI 861
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....(iii) To direct Respondent No. to file an appropriate report before this Hon'ble Court for the confirmation of sale of the scheduled properties in favour of the applicant herein. 3. The facts in the background stated in brief are inter alia that respondent No.2 herein - Kemrock Agritech Pvt. Ltd. was under liquidation. In respect of certain properties of the company in liquidation, respondent No.1 - SICOM Limited claimed its exclusive charge. It was the case that the properties were mortgaged with the said respondent No.1 company. Respondent No.1 therefore approached this Court seeking permission to sell them off. 3.1 In the Company Application No.314 of 2015 in Company Petition No.338 of 2013 being SICOM Limited Vs. Kemrock Agritech Pvt. Ltd., following was the prayer. "to grant leave to the Applicant under Section 446 r/w. Section 537 of the Companies Act, 1956 to auction and sell the immovable property described at Annexure "B" hereto and appropriate the proceeds towards discharge of the Respondent Company's liability owned to the Applicant under the Deed of Further Mortgage dated 13th December, 2012 and Indenture of Mortgage dated 10th June, 201o." 3.2 ....
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....xercise of the power under Section 29 of the Act. (b) For such purpose, the applicant shall get the properties valued by the approved valuer and keep the Official Liquidator informed about the valuation done. (c) The applicant shall associate the official liquidator while fixing the upset price, conducting auction and sale of the properties and shall seek the approval of this court for acceptance of the bid and confirmation of the sale in favour of the highest bidder. (e) As agreed by the learned advocate for the applicant, the applicant shall deposit the entire amount of sale proceeds with the Official Liquidator within a period of two weeks after receipt thereof. (f) On depositing the sale proceeds by the applicant with the Official Liquidator, the Official Liquidator shall immediately invite the claims of the workmen, and if the Official Liquidator receives any claim from any worker, the same shall be intimated to the applicant. The sale proceeds shall be then applied for payments on final adjudication of the claims received against the sale proceeds. (g) It is clarified that the applicant`s agreeing to deposit the sale proceeds with ....
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....eet Jain 414, Corner Point, B/h. Express Hotel, Jetalpur Road, Alkapuri Vadodara, Gujarat-390007 Sub:- Sale of property being Industrial nonagricultural land bearing Revenue Survey Nos 133, 150, 186, 178/1, 18001, 249, 250, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 261, 262, 263 and 303 and building located at Vadodara-Halol State Highway SH-87, Village Asoj. Taluka-Waghodia, District Vadodara, Gujarat-391510 alongwith the installed Plant and Machinery. Re:-Offer in Public Auction held on November 25, 2020 at 3.00 pm. at SICOM's Mumbai Dear Sir, This is with reference to the Public Auction held on November 25, 2020 at 3.00p.m. at SICOM's registered office at Mumbai for sale of captioned mortgaged property. At the outset, we thank you for giving your offer for the purchase of the captioned property for Rs. 9.61 crores in the said public auction. However, we regret to inform you that since SICOM has received only one offer/single bid in the said public auction, the management has decided to reject your offer and issue fresh advertisement for public auction. Therefore, we are hereby returning your EMD of Rs.....
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....as subject to confirmation by the Company Court. The Recovery Officer accepted the highest bid among the bids received and on his own, confirmed the sale. The Supreme Court held that it would not open for the Recovery Officer to confirm the sale. On the basis of the said decision, it was submitted that neither the applicant had an opportunity to show that his offer was reasonable representing the market price nor the Company Court was allowed to exercise its discretion as approval was not sought for before deciding to proceed anew with advertisement. 4.2 Learned advocate also relied on the observations of the Supreme Court in Navlakha & Sons v. Ramanya Das [(1996) 3 SCC 537] to highlight the principles which should govern the confirmation of sale. It was observed that condition of confirmation of Court operates as safeguard against the properties being sold at inadequate price. Mere acceptance of offer does not give any vested right to the bidder in the property for confirmation of offer, it was stated by the Supreme Court. 4.3 While learned advocate Mr.Saurabh Patel for the Official Liquidator submitted that the entire sale was conducted by respondent No.1 and only timeto- t....
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....en there is maximum public participation in the process of sale and everybody has an opportunity of making an offer. It becomes a legal obligation on the part of the authority that property be sold in such a manner that it may fetch the best price.". 4.6 Respondent No.1 - SICOM Limited as well as respondent No.4 - Official Liquidator also filed their affidavits-in-reply. Respective learned advocates relied on the contents and the contentions raised in those affidavits to submit that no prejudice has been caused to the applicant whose offer was solitary offer and therefore respondent No.1 decided to go for fresh auction. Learned advocate for respondent No.1 also further submitted that a fresh auction has been announced and the schedule thereof is underway. 5. Having considered the controversy and the attendant aspects, submission of learned advocate for respondent No.1 that bid of the applicant was not accepted and the stage of negotiating with him did not arise to validly make the complaint that approval of the Court was necessary, could not be brushed aside lightly. Even if the said aspect is left aside, the scenario offered was that there was only one bid from the applicant....