CUTTACK: THE Orissa High Court has ruled that an applicant in an auction case is not legally entitled to become the beneficiary when it is the only participant in the public sale.
The division bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Debebrata Dash passed the order while dismissing the petition of one Maa Sarala Multipurpose Cooperative Limited challenging cancellation of an e-auction by Rourkela Steel Plant where it was single participant and inviting a second auction with multiple participants in December last year. On January 28, 2020, the Court had issued an interim stay order on operation of the second auction notice for sale of ammonium sulphate.
Dismissing the petition, the Court said the purpose of holding the auction was to provide a platform to maximum number of registered fertiliser dealers and give them the opportunity to purchase the fertilizer for their onward sale to farmers all over the State.
“However, being the sole participant in an auction does not bestow upon any entity, a public law entitlement in asserting the right of being so rewarded with”, the division bench ruled. The bench observed that it is not desirable or practicable for courts to review the thousands of auctions conducted by executive authorities every day. “Courts, therefore, are cognizant that often-a-times the private interest of a few can clash with public interest of the masses, and hence a requirement to demonstrate effect on ‘public interest’ has been evolved by the Court”, the bench said.