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Dev Narayan Mandal v. State of U.P. and Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 6697 of 2016)Decided 25 Jul 2016
Civil Appeal No. 6697 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

The appellant had been allotted two government plots, but the authorities cancelled his allotment, alleging he had not been diligent, and decided to put the plots up for fresh auction. He challenged the cancellation. While the case was pending before the Supreme Court, it had already directed the authorities to proceed with a fresh auction while allowing him to also participate in it as a bidder.

Decision Breakdown

By the time of this judgment, the respondent authorities confirmed in an affidavit that the appellant himself had turned out to be the highest bidder for both plots in the court-directed auction, and they had no objection to finalising the allotment in his favour on that basis. The Court therefore disposed of the appeal by directing the authorities to complete the auction formalities within 15 days, with the appellant required to pay the balance deposit (carrying 9% interest from the date of the earlier deposit), and made clear that if he defaulted on payment, his bid would be cancelled, the deposit forfeited, and the plots re-auctioned.

Lesson Learnt

Where a dispute over a government allotment is resolved by letting the matter go to a fresh, open auction, a party who then genuinely wins that auction fairly can get the relief they originally sought, but court-ordered relief of this kind usually comes with strict conditions (deposits, interest, timelines) and a real risk of forfeiture if those conditions are missed.

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

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