(1) At any time within thirty days from the date of the sale of immovable property, an application may be made to the Collector to set aside the sale on the ground of some material irregularity, or mistake, or fraud, in publishing or conducting it, but, except as otherwise is hereinafter provided, no sale shall be set aside on the ground of any such irregularity or mistake unless the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Collector that he has sustained substantial injury by reason thereof.
(2) If the application made under sub-section (1) is allowed, the Collector shall set aside the sale and may direct a fresh one.
(3) On the expiration of thirty days from the date of the sale, if no application to have the sale set aside is made under section 39 or under subsection
(1) or if such application has been made and rejected, the Collector shall make an order confirming the sale:
Provided that if the Collector has reason to think that the sale ought to be set aside notwithstanding that no such application has been made or on grounds other than those alleged in any application which has been made and rejected, he may, after recording his reasons in writing, set aside the sale.
(4) Whenever the sale of any lands is not so confirmed or is set aside, the deposit or the purchase money, as the case may be, shall be returned to the purchaser.
(5) After the confirmation of any such sale, the Collector shall register the lands sold in the name of the person declared to be the purchaser and shall execute and grant a certificate of sale bearing his seal and signature to such purchaser.
(6) The certificate of sale granted under sub-section (5) shall state the property sold and the name of the purchaser, and it shall be conclusive evidence of the fact of such purchase unless the authority before whom it is produced doubts its genuineness.
395 Proclamation of sale
41. Where lands are purchased at public sale under, this Act, the Collector, or other officer empowered by him in this behalf, shall publish in the village in which the land is situated, in the office of Tahsildar or Deputy Tahsildar as the case may be, in the Office of the Collector, and in the Official Gazette, the name of the purchaser and the date of purchase, together with a declaration of the lawful succession of such purchaser to all the rights and property of the former landholder in the said lands.
Delivery of possession
42. Where, notwithstanding such publication under section 41, any lawful purchaser of land is prevented from obtaining possession of the land, any court of competent jurisdiction, shall, on application and production of the certificate of sale granted under section 40, cause the proper process to be issued for the purpose of putting such purchaser in possession in the same manner as if the said lands had been decreed to the purchaser by a decision of such court.
Contracts and payments binding on purchaser
43. All contracts entered into by the defaulter with his tenants, and all payments made to him by the said tenants shall be binding upon the purchaser to the same extent and under the same conditions as the contracts and payments are binding on the Collector under sections 32 and 33.
Sale to be free of all encumbrances and disposal of surplus
44. All lands brought to sale on account of arrears of revenue shall be sold free of all encumbrances, and if any amount remains after liquidating the arrears with interest and the expenses of attachment and sale and other costs due in respect to such arrears, it shall be paid over to the defaulter unless such payment is prohibited by any court of competent jurisdiction.
Recovery of arrears due to defaulter on the date of sale
45. Arrears of rent which on the date of sale is due to the defaulter from his tenants shall, in the event of the sale, be recoverable by him after the sale, by any process, except distraint which would have been utilised by him for that purpose before the said sale.
396 Sale of land for arrear
46. It shall be lawful for the Collector, or other officer empowered by him in this behalf, to sell the whole or any portion of the land of a defaulter in the discharge of an arrear of revenue:
Provided that, as far as may be practicable, no larger portion of the land shall be sold than may be necessary to discharge the arrears with interest, the expenses of attachment, management, and sale.
Sale may be postponed on tender of security