S. D. Agarwala, J. - (1.) THIS is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Since the counter affidavit and rejoinder affidavits have been exchanged parties are agreed that the petition may be disposed of finally,
(2.) WE have heard learned counsel for the parties. On 19-6-1990 an auction notice was issued by the Executive Engineer, Public Works Departments, Hamirpur for settlement of right to collect tolls of bridge Sanjay Setu' situate at 65 Kilometer on Kanpur- Hamirpur Kabrai Marg. The settlement was to be made for a period of one year and the auction was scheduled to be held on 31st July, 1990. Under the terms of the auction notice every bidder at the said auction had to submit certain documents and then only he was to be permitted to take part in the auction. One of the important documents was a solvency certificate for a sum of Rs. 25,00,000/-. It was provided in the auction notice that in case the solvency certificate was not submitted in accordance with the terms or the auction notice then such person will not be permitted to bid at the auction. The petitioner submitted a solvency certificate on 24-7-1990. On 31-7-1990 the Executive Engineer, Public Works Department, Hamirpur notified the list of persons permitted to participate in the auction as also a list of persons excluded from participating in the auction. Petitioner made an enquiry as to why he was not permitted to participate in the auction; The petitioner was informed that since the solvency certificate submitted by the petitioner was on the basis of movable and immovable property, the same was not in accordance with the condition No. 2 of the auction notice and consequently the solvency certificate was not a valid certificate and as such the petitioner was not permitted to participate in the auction.
(3.) ON 31-7-1990 auction was held. Prithviraj Singh gave highest bid for a sum of Rs. 21,15,000/-. The second bidder was Munindra Nath Upadhyaya who gave bid for Rs. 21,13,000/-. These were only two bidders at the auction. Since the petitioner was not permitted to participate in the auction, petitioner filed the present petition challenging the auction proceeding held on 31-7-1990. Learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that the Executive Engineer, Public Works Department, Hamirpur acted illegally in exercise of his jurisdiction in refusing to permit the petitioner to participate in the auction. His contention is that the solvency certificate submitted by him was a valid certificate in accordance with the auction notice and consequently the proceedings of the auction held on 31-7-1990 are liable to be quashed.;