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Avenue Supermarts Pvt. Ltd. v. Nischint Bhalla

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 8397 of 2015)Decided 8 Oct 2015
Civil Appeal No. 8397 of 2015
Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice R.K. Agrawal

Background

In a Bombay High Court administration suit over a deceased woman's estate, a property at Chembur was sold under court-approved terms. Avenue Supermarts was the highest bidder at Rs 20.15 crore, and in February 2009 a single judge confirmed the sale and directed execution of the conveyance documents in its favour. On appeal, the defendants who had sought that confirmation withdrew their own application, and the Division Bench allowed the withdrawal, holding the confirmation order no longer survived and the appeal was infructuous.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's order of 1 March 2012 that allowed the withdrawal. Relying on R. Rathinavel Chettiar, the Court held that once an order has settled rights between parties, withdrawing the proceedings at the appellate stage cannot destroy those rights as a matter of course. The confirmation order had created a vested right in favour of the highest bidder, and that right could not be set aside simply by permitting the defendants to withdraw their Notice of Motion. The High Court was directed to decide the appeal afresh on its merits, so the underlying appeal is still to be decided by that court.

Lesson Learnt

A court order that has given someone a settled right, such as a confirmed auction purchase, is not wiped out merely because the party that sought it withdraws its request. Courts must decide such matters on the merits rather than by a quiet withdrawal.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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