Rare scene at HC as CJ conducts land auction

HYDERABAD:  Advocates and litigants had a unique experience of witnessing an auction conducted by a division bench headed by chief justice Madan B Lokur on the High Court premises on Thursday.The chief justice, along with justice PV Sanjay Kumar, conducted the auction of 9 acres of land owned by the Midwest (India) Industries Ltd, a company under liquidation, at Poppalaguda here for Rs 18 crore.KL Sridhar Reddy, a realtor from the city, was the highest bidder.The division bench decided to conduct the auction in its presence as it was noticed during a hearing earlier on an appeal filed under the Companies Act challenging an order of a single judge refusing to confirm the sale of the property for a sum of ` 5.56 crore at the instance of the Welfare Association of Creditors.The Midwest company was under liquidation and the property was brought to auction by the official liquidator to pay the investors and shareholders. After taking cognisance of the fact that there was an existing offer of ` 9.6 crore for the property, the bench decided to conduct auction under its supervision.Zion Associates, KL Sridhar Reddy, K Sri Rama Rao and another realtor participated in the auction. The highest bidder deposited about Rs 17 crore and he will have to deposit the remaining amount before noon on Friday. The bench made it clear that if the bidder failed to pay the balance amount by the specified time, the auction would go in favour of the second highest bidder who quoted Rs 17.98 crore and the deposit of Rs  9.50 of the highest bidder will be forfeited.