ABDUL RAHIM KHAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by the plaintiff is directed against the judgment and decree passed by the lower appellate Court dismissing his suit for recovery of Rs. 1140/-, representing an initial deposit made under indemnity bond upon an auction sale of certain properties situate within Ranchi Municipality on the 22nd August 1958.

(2.) The relevant facts are no longer in dispute. Parts of Municipal holding Nos. 586 and 587 of ward No. V of Ranchi Municipality, which had been declared evacuee property in accordance with law and had come to vest in the Custodian of Evacuee Properties, Bihar (defendant No 2), and of which defendant No. 3, the Managing Officer-cum Assistant Custodian, Gaya. was in charge were advertised for sale in accordance with the procedure in that behalf laid down in Chapter XIV of the Displaced Persons (Compensation & Rehabilitation) Rules, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules'). The auction sale was held on the 22nd August, 1958 by the Managing officer-cum-Assistant Custodian, Gaya (defendant No. 3) through an auctioneer, defendant No. 4, and the plaintiff-appellant was declared the highest bidder, his bid being Rs. 11,400/-; and, as permitted by the aforesaid rules under which the auction had been held, the plaintiff executed an indemnity bond (Ext A) for Rs. 1140/-, that is, 10 per cent of the bid amount by way of an initial payment. Sub- Rule (10) of Rule 90 of the Rules read as under:

(3.) The suit was resisted mainly on the ground that the condition of approval of the bid by defendant No. 3 did not imply that there was no effective acceptance of the plaintiff's bid with the fall of the hammer. It was urged that in law there was an acceptance of the bid subject only to a condition subsequent and after the said acceptance, the plaintiff was not entitled to revoke the bid and withdraw his offer and claim refund of the initial deposit.