Section 5 in Rules for the Sale of Surplus Rural Properties
5. Procedure for sale of property public auction.
Where any property is to be sold by public auction :(a)The property shall be sold through the officers appointed by the State Government in this behalf;(b)The Settlement Commissioner or any other officer empowered to sell any such property shall cause a proclamation of the intended sale to be made in the language of the principal civil Court of the ordinary jurisdiction within whose jurisdiction property is situated.(c)Notice of the intended sale shall be given at least fifteen days before the proposed sale, and every such notice shall state the date, time and place of the proposed sale, the description of property to be sold, its location and boundaries where possible, the terms and conditions of the sale and other particulars which the State Government or other Officer considers material. One copy of the notice shall be affixed in a conspicuous place in the village(s) where the property is situated e.g. Panchayat Ghar, Gurdwara, Mandir, School etc. It shall be within the discretion of the Settlement Commissioner or other office to advertise the sale in news paper and in such other manner as he deem fit.(d)No sale shall take place until after the expiry of a period of fifteen days from the date of publication of the notices.(e)Every auction of a property shall be subject to a reserve price fixed in respect of the property, but such reserve price shall not be disclosed.(f)The officer conducting the auction may, in his discretion, withhold sale of any property without assigning any reasons therefor.(g)The officer conducting the sale may, at the discretion for reasons to be recorded in writing, adjourn the sale to a specified date and hour and an announcement to that effect shall be made at the time of adjournment of the sale. Provided that where a sale is adjourned for a period exceeding fifteen days, a fresh notice shall be published.(h)The person declared to be the Highest Bidder at the Public Auction shall pay in cash immediately at the fall of hammer the whole amount of the highest bid if it does not exceed Rs. 500/- and if it exceeds this figure, an amount equal to 25% of the highest bid, as earnest money.If this amount is not paid, the bid shall be cancelled and the property put to re-auction. The loss, if any, resulting from the re-auction shall be recoverable from the previous bidder.The highest bid in respect of which an initial deposit has been made shall be subject to the approval of the Settlement Commissioner or an Officer appointed by him for the purpose. Provided that no bid shall be accepted until after the expiry of fifteen days from the date of auction.(i)Procedure for acceptance of the highest bid.(1)The Settlement Commissioner or any Other Officer shall not be bound to accept the highest or other bid and shall not be bound to disclose his reasons therefor. Every bidder shall be bound by his bid and shall, if he resiles from such bid, be liable to forfeit his deposit of earnest money. The decision of the Settlement Commissioner with regard to the forfeiture of the deposit shall be final.(2)When a bid has been accepted by the Settlement Commissioner or other Officer, the bidder shall produce before the Tehsildar (Sales) or any other Officer appointed by the Settlement Commissioner for the purpose, within thirty days of the receipt of such intimation to his of the acceptance of the bid, a challan showing a deposit into the Treasury of the balance of the purchase money.(3)The Settlement Officer (Sales) may in deserving cases extend the aforesaid period of 15 days such period not exceeding one month, as he may think fit.(4)The Settlement Commissioner may in exceptional and really hard cases grant such further extension for the payment of balance price as he may consider reasonable.(5)If the balance of the purchase money is not deposited with the period specified in sub-paras 2 and 2 above, the initial deposit made by the purchaser shall be liable to forfeiture and he shall not have any claim to the property. Further, if in re-auction any loss is caused to Government, that loss may also be recovered from the defaulting bidder.
