Summary
The Supreme Court restored a secured-asset auction sale after holding that the fifteen-day period for paying the remaining seventy-five per cent runs from confirmation by the secured creditor, rather than the auction date. Confirmation was made and communicated on 27 February 2013, and payment on 13 March was timely. The orders setting aside the sale were reversed, and possession was directed to be delivered according to law as expeditiously as possible.
Issues
- Whether the balance-payment period ran from the auction or from secured-creditor confirmation.
- Whether the auction purchaser’s timely post-confirmation payment justified setting aside the sale.
Provisions considered
- Rule 9(2)–(6), Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002The sale requires confirmation by the secured creditor. The balance-payment period follows that confirmation; forfeiture under subrule (5) requires default within the period prescribed by subrule (4). A compliant purchaser is entitled to the sale certificate under subrule (6). (¶¶ 5, 8, 9, 10)
Held
- Reading the confirmation, payment, forfeiture and certificate provisions together, the fifteen-day balance-payment period begins with secured-creditor confirmation. Treating auction day as the trigger could lead to forfeiture even before the creditor decided whether to confirm, a consequence the rules do not contemplate. (¶¶ 5, 8, 9)
- Here confirmation was made and communicated on 27 February 2013, and the balance was deposited within fifteen days on 13 March. The purchaser complied with rule 9 and the sale certificate was rightly issued. The Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and High Court erred in setting aside the auction on the contrary computation. (¶¶ 3, 4, 8, 9, 10)
- With the sale certificate already issued, possession was to be delivered in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible. The impugned orders were set aside without an award of costs. (¶¶ 10, 11)
Result
Appeal allowed without costs; impugned orders setting aside the auction reversed. Possession to be delivered according to law as expeditiously as possible.