BALKAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Evacuee land was sold in an auction by the Department of Rehabilitation on April 10, 1986. The land was also under lease with various persons at the time of auction. The petitioners in this writ petition participated and became the highest bidders in the auctions held on April 10, 1968, and April 30, 1968. The bids offered by the petitioners regarding the land in dispute had not been confirmed by the Settlement Officer (Sales) Before the auction was confirmed, some persons filed a Civil Writ Petition No. 1552 of 1968 on April 24, 1968, for quashing the auction and also to declare them as owners of the land that was sold in the auction. The said writ petition was pending till 1980 and on May 1, 1980, it was dismissed by this Court holding that since the lease in favour of the petitioners therein had been terminated in 1968 and since the lease period has already expired, the writ petition had become infructuous. After dismissal of the writ petition, the case was submitted to the Settlement Officer (Sales), who, by his order dated August 17, 1981, ordered the re- auction of the land in dispute.

(2.) Aggrieved by the said order, the present writ petition has been filed by the petitioners challenging the same. The learned Counsel for the petitioners contended that the auction took place in the year 1968 and the petitioners deposited 1/4th of the bid amount and there was no reason or valid ground for not confirming the auction in favour of the petitioners and the petitioners are, therefore, entitled to have the auction confirmed in their favour and they have also prayed for putting them in possession of the property in auction. The learned A.A.G. Haryana argued that it is within the powers of the Settlement Officer to accept the bid or to decline the confirmation of the bid and he need not give any reasons for directing the re-auction of the land and, therefore, there are no grounds to issue any writ and the writ petition is, therefore, liable to be dismissed.

(3.) There is no dispute that the evacuee land was put to auction under the Rules for Sale of Surplus Rural Property which includes surplus evacuee property. The procedure for sale of property for public auction has been laid down in Rule 5. The learned A.A.G., Haryana placed reliance upon clause (i) of Rule 5 which reads as follows :-