Sanjib Banerjee, J. - (1.) The writ petitioners seek to resile from an offer on the ground that there is no formal acceptance thereof by the respondents and that it is open to the petitioners to seek refund of the earnest deposit.
(2.) The customs authorities conducted an e-auction for sale of 1656 wheel sets with shaft of Romanian origin weighing about 2398 MT. The goods were offered on as-is-where-is basis and the successful bidders were required to pay the earnest money of 10 per cent of the bid value within seven days of the declaration of the result of the auction. The auction was open to bidders registered with the customs as access to the auction website was only by keying in the allotted user ID and password. The duration of the process of auction was to be notified on the website.
(3.) The first petitioner put in a bid and complains that despite the first petitioner being declared as the highest bidder, no formal approval was issued by the respondents as was required to be done under the conditions of the auction. The parties refer to the following relevant terms of the e-auction notice: "(xiv) Thereafter, the Department will examine the bidding amounts and in the case of the bids accepted, the bidders will receive communication by email as well as by post about acceptance of their bidding. "(xv) Within 7 days of the receipt of the letter indicating acceptance of the bid by the Department or by the concerned CFS (in the case of uncleared cargo), the bidders will be expected to pay the 10% EMD or the full bid amount according to their preference. "(xvi) In case only EMD is paid, delivery of the goods will be made only after the full amount is paid within the time limit specified in the conditions of sale. "(xvii) If the full amount is paid, a delivery order will be issued to the bidder to receive the goods. However, the delivery of goods will be subject to fulfilment of any regulations under Customs Act or any other act in force like Plant Quarantine, Port Health Officer, etc. and he should take delivery within the stipulated time. "(xviii) In case a bidder fails to pay EMD after his bid has been accepted, he will be black-listed and the deposit amount of Rs.4900/- will be forfeited by the Department. He will be re-registered only if he compensates the Department for the loss suffered by the Department. In case the goods are sold subsequently at a lower price, the registration will be considered on payment of the differential between the bid amount made by the debarred bidder and the new bidder with interest as calculated by the Department.";