Full Judgment Text
REPORTABLE
2023INSC869
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION NO.1735 OF 2022
IN
CIVIL APPEAL NO.1902 OF 2020
UNION BANK OF INDIA …APPELLANT
VERSUS
RAJAT INFRASTRUCTURE PVT.
LTD. & ORS. …RESPONDENT(S)
AND
M/S. SUNVIEW ASSETS PVT. … APPLICANT
LTD. (RESPONDENT NO.6)
J U D G M E N T
BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.
1. M.A. No.1735 of 2022 is filed in the Civil Appeal
No.1902 of 2020 (arising out of Special Leave
Signature Not Verified
Digitally signed by
SNEHA DAS
Date: 2023.10.04
16:22:24 IST
Reason:
Petition (Civil) No.28608 of 2019), by the
Applicant (original Respondent No.6-M/s. Sunview
1
Assets Pvt. Ltd.) seeking directions to Union Bank
of India (original Appellant) to issue Sale letter
in favour of the Applicant in respect of the
property bearing House No.7, Survey No. Old 168 and
169 (New No.306 & 307) of Village Palasiayana,
Manormagank, Tehsil and District Indore admeasuring
109754 Sq. Ft. (2.18 Acres) (hereinafter referred
to as the ‘Subject Property’) on the ground that
the Applicant/ Auction Purchaser has made the full
and final payment of the auction amount alongwith
interest in terms of the order dated 12.05.2020
passed by this Court in M.A. No.922 of 2020.
2. The chequered history of the long-drawn litigation
between the parties may be summarized as under: -
(i) The appellant in the Civil Appeal No.1902 of
2020 is a bank, a body Corporate constituted
under the Banking Companies (Acquisition and
Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970. The
Respondent No.1-Rajat Infrastructure Pvt.
Ltd. claimed to be the owner of the Subject
2
Property, the Respondent No.2-Manindra
Chandrasen and Respondent No.3-Sharad
Chandrasen claimed to be in the possession
of the subject property, Respondent No.4-
Zoom Developers Pvt. Ltd. and Respondent
No.5-Zoom Vallabh Steel Ltd. were the
borrowers. In order to secure the credit
facilities/ loan granted by the Appellant
Bank to the Respondent No.4 and 5, the
Respondent No.1 on 15.04.2005 had mortgaged
its interest in the subject property to the
Appellant Bank.
(ii) The Respondent No.4 & 5 having failed to
repay the credit facilities/ loan granted by
the appellant bank, the proceedings under
Section 13 of the Securitisation and
Reconstruction of Financial Assets and
Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002
(hereinafter referred to as the ‘SARFAESI
Act’) were initiated by the Appellant Bank
3
in respect of the Subject Property mortgaged
with it.
(iii) After certain proceedings before the Debt
Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and Bombay High
Court having taken place between the
parties, the Appellant on 13.06.2019 had
issued a notice for e-auction sale of the
said property under the SARFAESI Act,
scheduling the auction sale on 04.07.2019.
(iv) The Respondent no.1-Rajat Infrastructure
preferred a Securitization Application No.
115 of 2019 on 30.06.2019, before the DRT
for restraining the Appellant Bank from
taking any further steps including the sale
and confirmation of sale in respect of the
Subject Property, on the ground that the
Bank-the secured creditor had failed to make
proper valuation of the Subject Property
before proceeding with the auction sale as
contemplated under sub Rule (5) of Rule 8 of
4
the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules,
2002 (for short,‘the said Rules’).
(v) In the said Securitization Application No.
115 of 2019, the Respondent no.1 Rajat
Infrastructure had also filed an
Interlocutory Application No. 822 of 2019
seeking interim relief restraining the
Appellant Bank from proceeding further with
the proposed auction sale, pending the main
application. The DRT Mumbai vide the order
dated 11.11.2019 refused to grant the ad
interim relief as prayed for in I.A. No. 822
of 2019.
(vi) The Respondent no.1 being aggrieved by the
said order passed by the DRT, preferred a
Writ Petition being (ST No.29319 of 2019).
The Bombay High Court vide the order dated
25.11.2019 relegated the Respondent no.1 to
the statutory remedy of appeal before the
Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (for short
5
‘DRAT’). It was observed in the said order
by the High Court that: -
“the petitioner has an efficacious
alternate remedy of appeal before the
learned DRAT, where no pre-deposit is
required.”
(vii) Pending the said Writ Petition before the
High Court, the auction having taken place,
the Respondent no.6 M/s. Sunview Assets Pvt.
Ltd. (the Applicant herein) claimed to be
the highest bidder for a sum of Rs.65.62
Crores. The Bombay High Court therefore vide
the order dated 20.11.2019 permitted the
Respondent no.6 to be impleaded in the said
Writ Petition.
(viii) The Respondent no.6, on the High Court
disposing of the Writ Petition observing
that the Respondent no.1 had an efficacious
alternative remedy of appeal before the
DRAT, where no pre-deposit was required, had
filed a review petition before the High
Court. The said review petition came to be
6
dismissed by the High Court vide the order
dated 16.12.2019.
(ix) The Appellant Bank, being aggrieved by the
observations made by the High Court in the
order dated 25.11.2019, with regard to the
pre-deposit, preferred an appeal being Civil
Appeal No.1902 of 2020 (arising out of SLP
(C) No.28608 of 2019), and the Respondent
no.6 also being aggrieved by the order of
the High Court passed on 16.12.2019
dismissing its review petition, preferred an
appeal being the Civil Appeal No.1903 of
2020 (arising out of SLP (C) No.1753 of
2020) before this Court.
(x) This Court by a common judgment and order
dated 02.03.2020 allowed both the said
appeals by setting aside the orders dated
25.11.2019 and 16.12.2019 passed by the High
Court in so far as it was observed therein
that pre-deposit was not required. This
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Court to be precise, passed the following
order: -
“11. In view of the above discussion,
we set aside both the orders dated
25.11.2019 and 16.12.2019 of the High
Court in so far as they hold that pre-
deposit is not required and allow the
appeals. We reiterate that we have not
gone into the merits of the contentions
raised by the parties which shall be
decided by the DRAT when it entertains
the appeal and is called upon to do so.
We extend the time given to the auction
purchasers, respondent no.6 to deposit
the balance of the sale amount till
20.03.2020. We also direct that in case
respondent no.1 files an appeal within
30 days of the pronouncement of this
order it shall not be rejected on the
ground of limitation.”
A corrigendum order directing some
corrections was passed by the court on
04.03.2020.
(xi) The Applicant–Auction Purchaser preferred
M.A. No.894 of 2020 in the said disposed of
Civil Appeal No.1902 of 2020 seeking
extension of time for payment of balance
sale price of Rs.49,21,50,000/- (Rupees
Forty-Nine Crores Twenty-One Lakhs Fifty
8
Thousand Only) on the ground that due to
Covid-19 pandemic the Applicant could not
raise the required balance sale price. The
Court vide order dated 20.03.2020 allowed
the extension of time to deposit the balance
sale consideration by 30.04.2020, further
observing that: -
“No further extension shall be
granted.”
(xii) Another M.A. No.922 of 2020 came to be filed
by the Applicant/ Auction Purchaser seeking
further extension of time on the ground that
there was no improvement in the pandemic
situation. This Court vide order dated
12.05.2020 considering the lockdown declared
on account of the Covid-19, extended the
time to deposit the remaining amount till
two months after lifting of lockdown. In the
said order the court directed the Applicant
to pay interest at the lending rate for the
9
period starting from 20.03.2020 till the
date of deposit.
(xiii) The Applicant deposited Rs.4,80,00,000/-
(Rupees Four Crores and Eighty Lakhs) on
30.03.2021, Rs.5,00,00,000/- (Rupees Five
Crores) on 21.08.2021 and Rs.5,00,00,000/-
(Rupees Five Crores) on 15.03.2022.
(xiv) The Applicant again filed M.A. No.1126 of
2022 seeking extension of time to deposit
the remaining amount of Rs.34,41,50,000/-
(Rupees Thirty-Four Crores Forty-One Lakhs
Fifty Thousand Only).
(xv) The Respondent No.1 i.e., Rajat
Infrastructure therefore filed M.A. No.1164
of 2022 seeking recall of the order dated
12.05.2020 passed by the court in M.A.
No.922 of 2020 and sought directions against
the Appellant Bank to initiate the
proceedings in terms of Section 14 of the
SARFAESI Act. The Respondent No.1 in the
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said application had also sought action
against the officials of the Respondent-Bank
and the Applicant M/s. Sunview Assets Pvt.
Ltd. alleging fraud, collusion, and
conspiracy.
(xvi) On 11.07.2022, the court passed an interim
order in the said applications directing to
list the matter on 26.07.2022 and observed:
“As at present, we have not passed any
order, whether on the prayer for
enlargement of time, as sought for by
the respondent no.6 or on the other
prayer for not granting any other
enlargement but, we still leave it open
for the respondent no.6 to make the
requisite payment before the next date.
We see no more at present.”
(xvii) In view of the said order passed by the
court on 11.07.2022, the Applicant
deposited further amount of
Rs.34,41,50,000/- (Rupees Thirty-Four
Crores Forty-One Lakhs Fifty Thousand Only)
after deducting 1 percent TDS of the total
11
auction purchase value with the bank on
22.07.2022.
(xviii) The Applicant (original Respondent No.6)
thereafter filed an application being I.A.
No.107669 of 2022 praying for waiver or
reduction of interest amount as earlier
directed in the order dated 12.05.2020.
However, during the course of hearing on
10.08.2022, the learned counsel appearing
for the Applicant did not press for the
said I.A. and submitted that the Applicant
shall make payment of the requisite amount
of interest to the bank. He also did not
press for the M.A. No.1126 of 2022. The
learned counsel appearing for the
Respondent No.1 – Rajat Infrastructure
also did not press for the M.A. No.1164 of
2022, however, sought liberty to take
recourse to other appropriate remedies in
accordance with law. The court taking note
12
of the submissions of the respective
parties passed following order on
10.08.2022.
“…………… We have only taken note of the
submissions of the respective parties
in this regard and are not making any
comments on the merits of the
submissions either way.
Suffice it to observe for the present
purpose that with disposal of M.A.
No. 1126 of 2022, no further orders
are required on the pending
applications in this matter. Hence,
they stand disposed of as such.
It goes without saying that other
pending matters shall be dealt with
on their own merits and strictly in
accordance with law.
The other applications for
intervention, permission for filing
the application for intervention
(I.A. No.100718 of 2022 and I.A.
No.10713 of 2022) as also the
application for direction, being I.A.
No.100735 of 2022 are also rendered
redundant and stand disposed of as
such.”
(xix) The Applicant/ Auction Purchaser thereafter
deposited with the Appellant Bank a sum of
Rs.7,17,02,859.45/- (Rupees Seven Crores
Seventeen Lakhs Two Thousand Eight Hundred
Fifty-Nine and Forty-Five Paise) towards the
interest amount. The Appellant Bank vide
13
letter dated 26.08.2022, acknowledged the
receipt of the said amount.
3. The Applicant (original respondent no.6 in C.A. No.
1902 of 2020) has now filed the instant M.A.
No.1735 of 2022 seeking the directions as stated
hereinabove. The application has been resisted by
the Respondents by filing their respective replies.
The Respondent no.1 Rajat Infrastructure has mainly
contended that the Miscellaneous Application filed
in the disposed of Civil Appeal, seeking directions
to the bank for issuing the sale certificate is not
maintainable, more particularly when the Applicant
has failed to comply with the orders passed by this
Court from time to time and when the Applicant has
also not complied with the provisions contained in
Rule 9 of the said Rules. The Respondent no.1 has
also alleged collusion between the Applicant and
the Appellant Bank. The other Respondents no.2 to 5
have also broadly supported the contentions raised
by the Respondent no.1. The Appellant Bank has
14
filed the affidavit in reply on 23.11.2022 relying
upon its earlier affidavit filed with regard to the
status report dated 06.08.2022 (Annexure A7 of the
M.A. paper book). It has been contended inter alia
that even if the lockdown was considered to be in
operation till the end of February 2022, then also
the full payment as per the Court’s order dated
12.05.2020 should have been made on or before
30.04.2022, but the same was not made.
4. It may be noted that none of the parties has placed
on record any material to show as to on which
particular date the lockdown was lifted in the
state of Maharashtra. However, taking note of the
orders passed by this Court in Suo Motu Writ
Petition (C) No.03 of 2020, extending period of
limitation in all proceedings before the Courts and
Tribunals, including this Court, on account of the
outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it may be safely
presumed that the time limit whenever was to expire
in the proceedings was extended upto February 2022,
15
and that in the instant case, therefore the
Applicant was required to deposit the amount as
directed by this Court in the order dated
12.05.2020, two months after February 2022 i.e., on
or before 30.04.2022.
5. Before adverting to the contentions raised by the
learned counsels for the Respondents, with regard
to the maintainability of the instant Miscellaneous
Application seeking directions against the
Appellant-Bank for issuance of sale letter in
favour of the Applicant, let us first address the
issue whether the extension of time sought by the
Applicant in the successive applications was
permissible in the eye of law, and even if
permissible, whether the Applicant had in fact
complied with the orders passed by the Court from
time to time in the said applications.
6. At this juncture, it would also be necessary to
refer to Rule 9 of the said Rules which deals with
“Time of sale, issue of sale certificate and
16
delivery of possession etc.,” with regard to the
sale of immovable secured assets through e-auction
mode. Rule 9 of the Rules reads as under: -
“9. Time of sale, issue of sale
certificate and delivery of possession,
etc.-
[(1) No sale of immovable property under
these rules, in first instance shall take
place before the expiry of thirty days
from the date on which the public notice
of sale is published in newspapers as
referred to in the proviso to sub-rule
(6) of rule 8 or notice of sale has been
served to the borrower:
Provided further that if sale of
immovable property by any one of the
methods specified by sub-rule (5) of rule
8 fails and sale is required to be
conducted again, the authorized officer
shall serve, affix and publish notice of
sale of not less than fifteen days to the
borrower, for any subsequent sale.]
(2) The sale shall be confirmed in favour
of the purchaser who has offered the
highest sale price in his bid or tender
or quotation or offer to the authorized
officer and shall be subject to
confirmation by the secured creditor:
Provided that no sale under this rule
shall be confirmed, if the amount offered
by sale price is less than the reserve
price, specified under sub-rule (5) of
[rule8]:
Provided further that if the authorized
officer fails to obtain a price higher
than the reserve price, he may, with the
consent of the borrower and the secured
creditor effect the sale at such price.
[(3) On every sale of immovable property,
the purchaser shall immediately, i.e., on
the same day or not later than next
17
working day, as the case may be, pay a
deposit of twenty five percent of the
amount of the sale price, which is
inclusive of earnest money deposited, if
any, to the authorized officer conducting
the sale and in default of such deposit,
the property shall be sold again.]
(4) The balance amount of purchase price
payable shall be paid by the purchaser to
the authorized officer on or before the
fifteenth day of confirmation of sale of
the immovable property or such extended
period [as may be agreed upon in writing
between the purchaser and the secured
creditor, in any case not exceeding three
months].
(5) In default of payment within the
period mentioned in sub-rule (4), the
deposit shall be forfeited [to the
secured creditor] and the property shall
be resold and the defaulting purchaser
shall forfeit all claim to the property
or to any part of the sum for which it
may be subsequently sold.
(6) On confirmation of sale by the
secured creditor and if the terms of
payment have been complied with, the
authorized officer exercising the power
of sale shall issue a certificate of sale
of the immovable property in favour of
the purchaser in the Form given in
Appendix V to these rules.
(7) Where the immovable property sold is
subject to any encumbrances, the
authorized officer may, if the thinks
fit, allow the purchaser to deposit with
him the money required to discharge the
encumbrances and any interest due thereon
together with such additional amount that
may be sufficient to meet the
contingencies or further cost, expenses
and interest as may be determined by him:
[Provided that if after meeting the cost
of removing encumbrances and
contingencies there is any surplus
available out of the money deposited by
the purchaser such surplus shall be paid
18
to the purchaser within fifteen days from
the date of finalization of the sale.]
(8) On such deposit of money for
discharge of the encumbrances, the
authorized officer [shall] issue or cause
the purchaser to issue notices to the
persons interested in or entitled to the
money deposited with him and take steps
to make the payments accordingly.
(9) The authorized officer shall deliver
the property to the purchaser free from
encumbrances known to the secured
creditor on deposit of money as specified
in sub-rule (7) above.
(10) The certificate of sale issued under
sub-rule (6) shall specifically mention
that whether the purchaser has purchased
the immovable secured asset free from any
encumbrances known to the secured
creditor or not.”
7. As discernible from the afore-stated sub-rule (4)
of Rule 9, the balance amount of purchase price
payable by the purchaser to the authorized Officer
has to be paid on or before the fifteenth day of
confirmation of sale of the immovable property or
such extended period as may be agreed upon in
writing between the purchaser and the secured
creditor, in any case not exceeding three months.
Sub-rule (5) thereof states that in default of
payment within the period mentioned in sub-rule
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(4), the deposit shall be forfeited to the secured
creditor and the property shall be resold, and that
defaulting purchaser shall forfeit all claim to the
property or to any part of the sum for which it may
be subsequently sold. As per sub-rule (6) thereof,
on the confirmation of sale by the secured creditor
and if the terms of payment have been complied
with, the authorized Officer exercising the power
of sale would issue a certificate of sale of the
immovable property in favour of the purchaser in
the form prescribed under the Rules.
8. Now, it is well settled proposition of law that
when a statute requires a particular thing to be
done in a particular manner, it must be done in
that manner or not at all, and other methods of
1
performance are necessarily forbidden.
9. In the instant case, out of the total bid amount of
Rs.65.62 Crores finalized on the date of auction
sale i.e., 11.11.2019, the Applicant had deposited
1
Taylor vs. Taylor, [L.R.] 1 Ch.426 approved by the Supreme Court in Rao Shiv Bahadur Singh and Another vs.
The State of Vindhya Pradesh AIR 1954 SC 322; State of Uttar Pradesh vs. Singhara Singh and Others AIR 1964 SC
358 and in Babu Verghese and Others vs. Bar Council of Kerala and Others (1999) 3 SCC 422.
20
an amount of Rs.31,20,50,000/- (Rupees Thirty-One
Crores Twenty Lakhs Fifty Thousand) only with the
bank and was required to deposit the balance amount
with the authorized officer of the bank on or
before the fifteenth day of the confirmation of
sale of the subject property i.e., on or before
26.11.2019 as per Rule 9(4) of the said Rules.
However, this Court while disposing of the said
Civil Appeals Nos. 1902 & 1903 of 2020 vide the
order dated 02.03.2020 permitted the Respondent
No.6 (Applicant herein) to deposit the balance of
sale amount till 20.03.2020.
10. As per the chronology of events stated hereinabove,
the Applicant did not deposit the balance sale
amount on or before 20.03.2020. Thereafter, the
Applicant projecting the cause of Covid-19, sought
extension of time for payment of the balance sale
price by filing the M.A. No.894 of 2020. The court
vide the order dated 20.03.2020, extended the date
21
upto 30.04.2020, clarifying that no further
extension shall be granted.
11. Again, the Applicant filed another M.A. No.922 of
2020 seeking further extension of time on the
ground that there was no improvement in the Covid-
19 pandemic situation, and the court passed an
order on 12.05.2020, extending the time to deposit
the remaining amount till two months after lifting
of lockdown. In the said order, the court directed
the Applicant to pay interest at the lending rate
for the period starting from 20.03.2020, till the
date of deposit.
12. However, the Applicant, instead of making the said
deposit of the entire balance amount with interest
(which at the relevant time had accrued to more
than fifty crores) deposited Rs. 4,80,00,000/-
(Rupees Four Crores Eighty Lakhs) on 30.03.2021,
Rs.5,00,00,000/- (Rupees Five Crores) on 21.08.2021
and another Rs.5,00,00,000/- (Rupees Five Crores)
on 15.03.2022.
22
13. The Applicant thereafter again filed M.A. being
No.1126 of 2022 seeking extension of time to
deposit the remaining amount. The said application
was strongly resisted by the Appellant Bank and by
the other Respondents and therefore, the court
passed the interim order on 26.07.2022 observing
that “the court had not passed any order either
accepting the prayer or rejecting the prayer for
enlargement of time, however, it was left open for
the applicant – respondent no.6 to make requisite
payment before the next date.”
14. The Applicant thereafter deposited with the bank a
sum of Rs.33,75,88,000/- (Rupees Thirty-Three
Crores Seventy-Five Lakhs Eighty-Eight Thousand
Only) on 22.07.2022 after deducting 1 percent TDS
of the total auction purchase value. The Applicant
thereafter deposited with the bank a sum of
Rs.7,17,02,859.45/- (Rupees Seven Crores Seventeen
Lakhs Two Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-Nine and
23
Forty-Five paise) towards the interest amount on
26.08.2022.
15. From the afore-stated state of affairs, it appears
that the extension of time granted by the court
vide the order dated 12.05.2020, which was self-
limiting, had lapsed or expired at least by
30.04.2022 as per the version of the Appellant
Bank. Thereafter, there was no order passed by the
court specifically extending the time limit.
Significantly, there is no clarification made by
the Applicant M/s. Sunview Assets Pvt. Ltd., as to
how the deposit of Rs.34,41,50,000/- on 22.07.2022
and the deposit of Rs.7,17,02,859.45/- on
26.08.2022 made with the Appellant Bank were in due
compliance of the orders passed by the Court from
time to time and particularly of the order dated
12.05.2020. When the Court had passed the order on
12.05.2020 extending the time to deposit the
remaining amount till two months after lifting of
the lockdown and to pay interest at the lending
24
rate for the period starting from 20.03.2020 till
the date of the deposit, it was incumbent on the
part of the Applicant to state as to when exactly
the lockdown was lifted, what was the lending rate
of interest at the relevant time, and how much
amount the Applicant was required to pay towards
the balance sale price and towards the interest for
the period starting from 20.03.2020 till the
deposit was made.
16. Even if a lenient view is taken considering the
orders passed by this Court in the Suo Motu Writ
Petition (C) No.3 of 2020 that the period of
limitation had stood extended upto February, 2022
on account of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic,
then also the Applicant was required to make
deposit of the entire balance amount with interest
within two months thereafter as per the order
passed by this Court on 12.05.2020 in M.A. No.922
of 2020, which the Applicant had failed to comply.
25
17. The submission of the learned Senior Advocate Mr.
Dushyant Dave for the Applicant that this Court
should treat the deposits made by the Applicant on
22.07.2022 and on 26.08.2022 as due compliance of
the order dated 12.05.2020, extending the time
limit by exercising the inherent powers of the
Supreme Court under Article 142 of the Constitution
of India or exercising the powers conferred on the
court under Section 148 of the Civil Procedure
Code, cannot be accepted in view of the statutory
provision contained in Rule 9 of the said Rules. As
per the sub-Rule (4) of Rule 9, the balance amount
of purchase price payable has to be paid by the
purchaser to the authorized officer on or before
the fifteenth day of the confirmation of sale or
such extended period as may be agreed upon in
writing between the purchaser and the secured
creditor, in any case not extending three months.
Even if by liberal construction of the said sub
rule, and in view of the orders passed by this
26
Court from time to time in the successive
applications filed by the Applicant, it is presumed
that the time to deposit the balance amount with
interest had stood extended two months after
February, 2022, i.e., upto 30.04.2022, no further
extension of time as such was granted by the Court
nor was it permissible to extend under the said
statutory provision contained in Rule 9 of the said
rules. It cannot be gainsaid that the court in
exercise of powers under Article 142 cannot ignore
any substantive statutory provision dealing with
the subject. The plenary powers of the Supreme
Court under Article 142 are inherent in nature and
are complementary to those powers which are
specifically conferred on the court by various
statutes. These powers though are of a very wide
amplitude to do complete justice between the
parties, cannot be used to supplant the substantive
law applicable to the case or to the cause under
consideration of the court. As observed by this
27
Court in Supreme Court Bar Association vs. Union of
2
India and Another , Article 142 even with the width
of its amplitude cannot be used to build a new
edifice where none existed earlier, by ignoring the
express statutory provisions dealing with a subject
and thereby to achieve something indirectly which
cannot be achieved directly. Even Section 148 of
CPC does not permit the court to extend the time
limit beyond thirty days of the time limit fixed by
the court earlier.
18. It is pertinent to note that the instant
Miscellaneous Application has been filed by the
Applicant seeking substantive prayer/ direction
against the Appellant Bank for the issuance of the
sale certificate on the ground that the Applicant
has made full and final payment of auction amount
with interest in terms of the order dated
12.05.2020 passed in M.A. No.922 of 2020. Apart
from the fact that the Applicant had not complied
2
(1998) 4 SCC 409
28
with the orders passed by this Court from time to
time in the successive applications filed by it,
and more particularly the order dated 12.05.2020
passed in M.A. No.922 of 2020, such an application
in the disposed of Civil Appeal No.1902 of 2020, to
pursue its strategies and to avoid judicial
adjudication in the substantive proceedings, would
not be even maintainable in the eye of law. Such a
trend emerging in this Court of filing repeated
applications, styled as Miscellaneous Applications,
without any legal foundation has been strongly
deprecated by this Court in Supertech Limited vs.
Emerald Court Owner Resident Welfare Association and
3
Others , in which it was observed as under: -
“A disturbing trend has emerged in this court
of repeated applications, styled as
Miscellaneous Applications, being filed after
a final judgment has been pronounced. Such a
practice has no legal foundation and must be
firmly discouraged. It reduces litigation to
a gambit. Miscellaneous Applications are
becoming a preferred course to those with
resources to pursue strategies to avoid
compliance with judicial decisions. A
3
2021 SCC Online SC 3422
29
| judicial pronouncement cannot be subject to | |
|---|---|
| modification once the judgment has been | |
| pronounced, by filing a miscellaneous | |
| application. Filing of a miscellaneous | |
| application seeking | |
| modification/clarification of a judgment is | |
| not envisaged in law. Further, it is a | |
| settled legal principle that one cannot do | |
| indirectly what one cannot do directly | |
| [“Quando aliquid prohibetur ex directo, | |
| prohibetur et per obliquum”]” |
19. It is also pertinent to note that there is nothing
on record to suggest as to whether the Respondent
No.1 – Rajat Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. and Others
had preferred any appeal before the DRAT in view
of the order passed in Civil Appeal No.1902 of
2020 on 02.03.2020, and if preferred whether the
same is pending or not. There is also no clarity
about the final outcome of the main Security
Application preferred by the Respondent No.1 Rajat
Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. and Others before the
DRT. Be that as it may, the instant Miscellaneous
Application seeking substantive prayers filed in
the said disposed of Civil Appeal No.1902 of 2020
being not maintainable cannot be entertained and
deserves to be dismissed. We may however clarify
30
that it would be open to the applicant to take
recourse to any other remedy that may be
permissible under the law for the prayers sought
in the present application, or to file appropriate
proceedings seeking refund of the amount deposited
with the appellant-bank, as may be permissible
under the law.
20. In that view of the matter, the Miscellaneous
Application No.1735 of 2022 is dismissed.
…………………………………………. J.
[ANIRUDDHA BOSE]
…………………………………………. J.
[BELA M. TRIVEDI]
NEW DELHI;
th
October 04 , 2023
31