Bombay High Court: While dealing with an application raising the issue of whether the arrested vessel could be subjected to auction sale during pendency of proceedings, the Division Bench of Suman Shyam and Advait M. Sethna, JJ., held that, in view of the order of arrest already issued and the failure of the earlier auction process, the petitioner had made out a strong prima facie case. Accordingly, the Court granted ad interim relief by issuing an injunction and restrained the auction of the arrested vessel until the next date of hearing.
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Background
The dispute arose from the arrest of a vessel pursuant to an order of the learned Single Judge dated 5 May 2026 in a Commercial Admiralty Suit. The petitioner expressed apprehension that the arrested vessel might be put up for auction sale, thereby jeopardising its interests. On the other hand, the respondents submitted that the earlier process of auction could not be taken forward due to technical reasons. The Court directed issuance of notice to Respondent 1 and permitted the addition of Square Port Shipyard (P) Ltd. as Respondent 6.
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Analysis and Decision
The Court emphasised that in its view no auction of the vessel would be permissible at this stage and highlighted that the petitioner had indeed made out a strong prima facie case. Accordingly, the Court ordered an ad interim relief via an injunction issued in terms of prayer clause (g). The order was directed to remain in force until the next date of hearing. The Court further directed that respondents file their reply within 4 weeks, with liberty to the petitioner to file a rejoinder within 2 weeks thereafter.
The matter was listed for 10 August 2026.
[Bhanderi Enterprise v. Union of India, Writ Petition No. 6606 of 2026, decided on 8-6-2026]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioners: Vikram Nankani, Senior Advocate, a/w Uttam Hathi, Prithwiraj Chaudhoury, Saurabh Gandhi, Kausar Jahan Sayed i/b. Brus Chambers.
For the Respondents: Jitendra Mishra, a/w Niyati Mankad, Ashutosh Mishra, Rupesh Dube and Priyanka Singh, Vishal Agrawal, Rishabh Jain, Shwethab Sinha i/b. TLC Legal LLP.
