Admittedly there is a decree for recovery against appellants for Rs.4,89,42,669/- passed on 29.11.2017, pursuant to a suit filed by National Bank of Pakistan/respondent and that has attained finality.
2. Vide an order dated 02.02.2019 passed by learned Judge, Banking Court-II, Multan, the reserve price of mortgaged property was fixed as Rs.43,71,91,125/- and subsequent thereto the schedule for auction was also issued.
3. The auction proceedings could not succeed as no bidder came forward, hence respondent/decree holder filed an application under section 151, C.P.C. before learned court with a request for fresh determination of reserve price. Vide an order dated 30.11.2019, the said application was accepted and Messrs Harvester Services (Pvt.) Ltd. was appointed to reassess the value of mortgaged property. This time reserve price was fixed as Rs.17,13,68,925/- vide an order dated 16.11.2020.
4. Later on, appellants moved an application raising objection on determination of new reserve price and the same was dismissed vide an order dated 02.02.2022 passed by the learned Judge, Banking Court-I, Multan and the same has been impugned through the instant appeal.
5. HEARD.
6. The earlier reserve price of Rs.43,71,91,125/- was pursuant to evaluation submitted by the parties.
We have gone through the order dated 30.11.2019 which shows that on that day no one was present on behalf of appellants and on the very first date, without issuing any notice or calling for reply from the appellants, the application was accepted in a summary manner and new reserve price which was quite low as compared to the earlier fixed, was determined by learned court.
7. The determination of fair reserve price is always in interest of both sides. If it ensures the recovery for the decree holder, at the same time it guarantees that the judgment debtor may be not deprived from his lawful entitlement.
8. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case mentioned above, we allow this appeal by setting aside impugned order dated 02.02.2022. Application filed by appellants is accepted and the result is that the order dated 30.11.2019 shall also lose its life and the application under section 151, C.P.C. filed by respondent shall be deemed to be pending. The learned trial court after hearing both the sides shall proceed again for the purpose of determination of reserve price.