Abhay Manohar Sapre JUDGMENT
Abhay Manohar Sapre, J.
1. Leave granted.
2. This appeal is directed against the final judgment and order dated 11.05.2016 passed by the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi in LPA No. 699 of 2015 whereby the Division Bench of the High Court dismissed the appeal filed by the Appellant herein for quashing the order dated 01.09.2015 passed by the Single Judge, which dismissed the Appellant's W.P.(c) No. 8314 of 2015.
3. The controversy involved in the appeal centers around the short facts and is essentially a legal one. However, few relevant facts need mention, in brief, to appreciate the controversy.
4. Respondents-Punjab National Bank(hereinafter referred to as "PNB") is a Nationalised Bank. The PNB had given loan facility to a Company called "M/s. India Iron & Steel Corporation Limited" (in short, "Borrower") for their business, which they were carrying at a place called Noorpur Khirki, Village Farid Nagar, Tehsil Dhampur, District Bijnor (U.P.).
5. To secure the loan amount, the Borrower had secured their assets, which consisted of the land, factory building, plant and machinery situated at Dhampur. The Borrower, however, failed to clear their loan amount and became a defaulter in its repayment. The PNB, therefore, invoked their powers Under Section 13(4) of the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as "SARFAESI Act") and issued a public sale notice in leading English newspapers for sale of the mortgaged assets of the Borrower in the public auction fixed for 17.06.2014 (Annexure-P-1). The Appellant herein was one of the bidders, whose bid was declared the highest.
6. The Appellant's bid was accordingly accepted by the PNB followed by execution of memorandum of understanding between the Appellant and the PNB (Annexure P-4). The PNB also sent a letter to the Appellant stating that the entire plant, machinery, land and the building is auctioned in favour of the Appellant. The letter also authorized the Appellant to dismantle and sell the scrap plant and the machinery which was lying at the Borrower's factory's premises after depositing the necessary installment of sale amount, as agreed upon between the parties in the memorandum of understanding.
7. The Appellant, however, failed to pay the regular installments towards sale money in terms of memorandum of understanding to PNB and sought extension of time to pay and remove the scrap material from the site.
8. This gave rise to the disputes between the parties, namely, PNB, Appellant (auction purchaser) and the Borrower before the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Lucknow being S.A. No. 310 of 2014 wherein an order was passed on 03.07.2014 (Annexure-P-11) directing the Appellant not to remove any material from the factory premises. The Appellant then wrote a letter to PNB requesting them to refund their money with interest. This led to another dispute between the parties which was filed in the DRT and then before the appellate authority-DRAT and finally, in the High Court at Allahabad in Writ Petition(c) No. 22246/2015 by the Borrower. This writ petition was disposed of finally on 29.05.2015 observing therein that since the Appellant had failed to comply with the term of memorandum of understanding inasmuch as the Appellant having failed to deposit the requisite installment of s........