Primezone Developers Private Limited v. the State of Maharashtra and Ors.
Case brief
What is this about?
A Division Bench held that an auction sale under the MPID Act was null and void due to systematic fraud and gross undervaluation. The court found that the competent authority and valuer colluded to misclassify residential land as agricultural to depress the sale price from 60 crores to 10 crores. Additionally, the auction lacked proper publicity in local vernacular newspapers and was conducted on a website with no viewer data. Ordering the setting aside of the sale certificate, the court directed a fresh auction, return of funds to the previous purchaser, and replacement of the incompetent authority.
What did the court decide?
The Sale Certificate dated 31st August 2020 is set aside. The State shall appoint a new Competent Authority within four weeks to appoint a new valuer and conduct a fresh auction with wide publicity in local newspapers and electronic media. Amounts received from the previous purchaser are to be returned immediately.