IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.15375 of 2010 Date of Decision: 28.09.2010 Shankar Lal and another ........Petitioners Versus Haryana Financial Corporation and another .......Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI Present: Mr. Ivneet Singh Pabla, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Kamal Sehgal, Advocate for the respondents. ****** PERMOD KOHLI, J. (ORAL) Petitioners availed financial assistance from respondent No.1- Corporation. It is stated that an amount of Rs.30 lacs was secured by way of a term loan. Admittedly, petitioners could not repay the entire outstanding loan amount and interest accrued thereon. Respondents initiated proceedings under Section 29 of the S.F.C. Act, 1951 for auction of the of the Industrial Unit of the petitioners. The grievance of the petitioners is that the auction has been conducted at Chandigarh and thus could not fetch maximum price. The petitioners have accordingly approached this Court seeking a direction for conduct of the auction at the site of the unit so as to fetch the maximum price. Vide order dated 27.08.2010, Mr. Sehgal was asked to seek instructions in this regard. Today, Mr. Sehgal has placed on record a copy of communication dated 20.09.2010. According to this letter, the Corporation has agreed to hold a fresh auction of the unit by re-advertising, sale of the unit in the newspaper with 14 days notice and also mentioning the date and Civil Writ Petition No.15375 of 2010 -2- time of the inspection of the unit. It is, however, mentioned that the cost of advertisement will be borne by the respondents. From the earlier notice, it appears that the prospective bidders were not granted any opportunity to inspect the property/site etc. of the unit. In view of the above circumstances and communication dated 20.09.2010, this petition is disposed of with the direction that respondent- Corporation will issue fresh advertisement notice within a period of two weeks from today. Mr. Sehgal has informed the Court that in the earlier auction, the maximum offer is Rs.52.10 lacs. This amount shall be minimum fixed price for the auction of the unit. The prospective bidders shall be allowed at least two weeks time to inspect the premises and corporation will make adequate arrangement at site for the inspection of the prospective bidders. The bid shall be held at Chandigarh in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Corporation with the above modification. Petitioners shall be at liberty to bring a better buyer on the conclusion of the auction and if the offer of the such bidder is more than the maximum offer received by the Corporation, property may be sold to such a person. The expenses for re-advertisement shall be borne by the petitioners. 28.09.2010 (PERMOD KOHLI) Gagan JUDGE