Mohd. Haroon vs Union Of India & Ors.
2010 Latest Caselaw 2927 Del

*     IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI


+                          LPA 147/2010

%                                         Reserved on: 26th April, 2010

                                          Decided on: 3rd June, 2010



      MOHD. HAROON
      Prop. M/s Adil Tin Scrap Store
      462, Shahzada Bagh
      Inder Lok, Delhi-110 035                             ..... Appellant
                        Through:     Mr. Varun Goswami, Advocate.

                  versus

1.    UNION OF INDIA
      Through Managing Director
      Container Corporation of India Ltd.
      C-3, Mathura Road, Opposite Apollo Hospital
      New Delhi-110 076

2.    Chief General Manager, Northern Region
      Container Corporation of India Ltd.
      Inland Container Depot
      Tughlakabad
      New Delhi-110 020.                                ..... Respondents
                        Through: Mr. R.K.Joshi, Mr. Jyotindra Kumar,
                                     Advocates for R-2.

Coram:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MADAN B. LOKUR
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MUKTA GUPTA


1. Whether the Reporters of local papers may
   be allowed to see the judgment?                       Yes


LPA 147/2010                                                           Page 1 of 7
 2. To be referred to Reporter or not?                      Yes

3. Whether the judgment should be reported
   in the Digest?                                          Yes

MUKTA GUPTA, J.

1. The present appeal lays a challenge to an order dated 8th January, 2010

dismissing the writ petition being WP(C) No.10617/2006 filed by the

Appellant.

2. The brief facts leading the Appellant to file the writ petition are that he

was trading in metal scrap in the name of M/s. Adil Tin Scrap Store and

pursuant to an auction notice dated 15th June, 2005 in the leading newspapers,

proposing to dispose of different scrap materials including HMS contained in

30 containers by public auction on "As is where is" basis, the Appellant

applied for the same. In the auction notice, neither the reserve price nor

weight nor quantity was mentioned. He paid the entry fee of Rs.250/- and

deposited the refundable security of Rs.20,000/- for participating in the

auction. Prior to the auction, the Appellant also inspected the goods. The

Appellant participated in the auction and being the highest bidder, his bid for

lot Nos.39 and 59 was accepted whereupon he tendered the advance of 30%

amounting to Rs.4,55,000/-. According to the Appellant he later on had

reasons to believe that the weight of the scrap was not as was orally informed

to him by the officers of the Respondent. As weight of the scrap was not

reflected in the respective bills of lading and also the Import General

Manifest, he approached the custom authorities to know about the valuation of

the goods put up for auction under the Right to Information Act vide

application dated 20th April, 2006. As the Appellant wrongly mentioned the

date of auction, no information was provided. The custom authorities refused

to give the information otherwise also and vide letter dated 6 th May, 2006 and

8th May, 2006, the Respondents called upon the Appellant to take delivery of

the goods which were auctioned on "As is where is" basis. According to the

Appellant he not only lost because the weight of the scrap was far less than

was represented to him but was also losing Rs.5,000/- per day on account of

ground rent and payment to the transporters, besides, brokerage and huge

amount of capital invested in the goods.

3. The Appellant thereafter filed a writ petition being WP(C)

No.10617/2006 inter alia praying for quashing of the entire auction held on

15th June, 2005 vide lot Nos.39 and 59 comprising of 5 containers of HMS

scrap, quashing of old demand raised by the Respondents towards the ground

rent and penalty for the three trucks lying loaded in the bonded area at Inland

Container Depot, Tughlakabad, refund of Rs.19,17,760/- with interest and

refund of Rs.2,70,000/- paid to the transporters with interest. The learned

Single Judge dismissed the writ petition vide order dated 8th January, 2010 on

the ground that the writ petition involved serious disputed questions of fact,

however, gave liberty to the parties to get their disputes adjudicated in the

appropriate forums.

4. According to the learned counsel for the Appellant, the writ petition

was pending in this Court since 2005 and finally on 8th January, 2010 it was

dismissed on account of the fact that it involved disputed questions of fact. It

is contended that the learned Single Judge ought not to have relegated the

Appellant to a tedious, lengthy and alternate remedy of filing a suit.

According to him there were absolutely no questions of fact on record which

were required to be relegated for adjudication by filing a civil suit.

5. The Appellant in support of his contentions has relied upon the

decisions of this Court in Manju Gupta and Another v. Delhi Development

Authority, 103(2003) DLT 776 and Videocon Leasing and Industrial

Finance Ltd. and Another v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Others,

117 (2005) DLT 260.

6. Per contra learned counsel for the Respondents submits that there is no

merit in the present appeal. The contention of the learned counsel for the

Appellant that there is no dispute on facts is wholly incorrect. The Appellant

had inspected the goods prior to the auction and had certified that the

inspection has been carried out to his satisfaction. The Appellant cannot now

turn around and say that he was not aware of the weight of the goods. It is

contended that proper adjudication of all these disputes on fact can only be

gone into after the parties have adduced their evidences and the same cannot

be done merely by filing of affidavits in a writ petition. According to him, the

learned Single Judge rightly declined the discretionary relief under Article

226 of the Constitution of India.

7. After hearing learned counsel for the parties, we find that undoubtedly

the present petition involves serious disputed questions of fact which require

proper adjudication after adducing of evidence. According to learned counsel

for the Appellant, the Appellant was disclosed the weight orally by the

officers of the Respondents whereas the same is denied by the Respondents.

According to the Respondents the auction was not conducted by them but by

the auctioneers SMG B.T. Pvt. Ltd. and thus there was no occasion for the

officials of the Respondents to have disclosed the weight of containers orally

to the Appellant. To ascertain whether the officers of the Respondents

represented the weight as stated by the Appellant and whether the actual

weight of the auction material was as was being projected by the Respondents

or 40% to 50% less than the weight indicated in the IGM, the same cannot be

adjudicated without recording evidence in respect of the claims and counter

claims.

8. The decision rendered by this Court in the case of Manju Gupta and

Another has no application to the facts of the present case as in the said case

the area was specified in the auction, however, on inspection at the time of

auction it was found to be incorrect. The Respondent therein sought to

subsequently clarify that the areas specified in the auction included 50% of

the basement area forfeited. Thus, this Court held that it was obligatory on

the part of the Respondents to inform the right area to the Petitioner's therein.

Even the judgment rendered in Videocon Leasing and Industrial Finance

Ltd. and Another has no application to the facts of the present case. In the

said case this Court held that the covenant in the lease deed which was in

relation to "as is where is" status of structure and land, cannot extend to

accepting liability of property tax payable for previous years, that is, even

prior to the execution of the lease deed.

9. The law, on the point, has been settled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court

in a catena of decisions. In ABL International Ltd. and another vs. Export

Credit Guarantee Corporation of India and others, 2004 (3) SCC 553, the

Hon'ble Supreme Court held that if the dispute related only to examining the

terms of the contract without taking recourse to any external aid then the High

Court, in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, can

examine the case. However, in the present case the issue is not that of

interpretation of the contract but the Appellant is seeking variation of the

terms of contract by invoking Sections 91 and 92 of the Evidence Act, stating

that the weight of the auctioned material was orally informed to him by the

Officers of the Respondents and he has reasons to believe that the weight as

informed to him was incorrect. Thus, this being the variation to the terms of

the contract, evidence would have to be led to find out the veracity of the

same. The said issue cannot be decided merely on affidavits filed in the writ

petition without putting the parties to cross examination.

10. We find no infirmity in the order passed by the learned Single Judge.

Hence, the appeal is dismissed.

(MUKTA GUPTA) JUDGE

(MADAN B.LOKUR) JUDGE JUNE 03, 2010 mm