Viney Kumar Sharma v. Improvement Trust - Public Auction - Disclosure Of Litigation
Public Auction - Authorities (such as banks, recovery officers, or state bodies) conducting public auctions are legally required to disclose all known encumbrances and litigation relating to the property, as failure to do so invalidates the sale. Suppressing such material facts renders the auction fraudulent or vitiated by material irregularity -Public auction is one of the modes of sale intending to get highest competitive price for the property. Public auction also ensures fairness in actions of the public authorities and their officers who should act fairly and objectively. Their actions should be legitimate. Their dealing should be free from suspicion. Nothing should be suggestive of bias, favouritism, nepotism or beset with suspicious features of underbidding detrimental to the legitimate interest of the stakeholders.
Case Info
Case name and neutral citation
- Case name: Viney Kumar Sharma v. The Improvement Trust & Anr.
- Neutral citation: Not provided in the order. The document header shows “CIVIL APPEAL … OF 2026 (SLP(C) No. 24811 of 2025)” and site path sci.gov.in/sci-get-pdf/?diary_no=390952025&type=o&order_date=2026-01-16, but no formal neutral citation is stated.
Coram
- Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.B. Pardiwala
- Hon’ble Mr. Justice K.V. Viswanathan
Judgment/Order date
- 16 January 2026.
Caselaws and citations
- Delhi Development Authority v. Corporation Bank & Ors., 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 953.
#SupremeCourt holds that Authorities conducting public auctions should disclose all known encumbrances and litigation relating to the property.
— CiteCase 🇮🇳 (@CiteCase) January 20, 2026
Failure to do so invalidates the sale, the Court said. https://t.co/rL8BlOQAtI pic.twitter.com/rlSpaR4utz