BNS Section 220: Illegal Purchase Or Bid For Property Offered For Sale By Authority Of Public Servant

Explanation and Illustration of Section 220 (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023)

This section is applicable to any person within the sovereign borders of India, whether citizen, resident or otherwise. It deals with the offence of unlawful participation in an auction held by a public servant in exercise of his or her lawful power.

There are cases where the government may seize and sell a property in order to satisfy a judicial ruling. Some of the cases in which a government may seize and auction a property

Smuggled goods seized by the customs department

Non payment of taxes of government dues

Non payment to business creditors leading to appointment of a public liquidator in satisfaction of such debts.

Unowned or unclaimed property

Surplus of items produced for internal use of government agencies.

This section disbars two kinds of people from participating in a government auction:

Persons with legal incapacity to participate in a sale

Persons who participate in a government bidding with no intention to fulfil the obligations of the sale.

People with legal incapacity are persons who are barred from participating in these auctions. Examples of such persons are:

Government employees

Auctioneer conducting the sale

A minor

A person deemed mentally unfit to participate in commercial transactions

A person expressly barred from participating by a government order.

Whereas, persons who participate in auctions without intending to fulfil its obligations are persons who participate purely with the intention of disrupting the bids of legitimate bidders in the hope of having the auction deferred, for whatever reasons.

When persons who are not qualified to participate or without the means to participate in a public auction make bids, posing as legitimate bidders, in effect, they are obstructing a government proceeding by means of deception.

Further, if any person participating in the auction is found to be participating on behalf or on directions of the persons mentioned above then he or she shall also be held equally culpable under section 220.

However, there are two qualifications for such participation to be a crime:

The person conducting the auction must have the lawful authority to conduct the auction. Not all government servants have the power to auction a property. In fact, the person conducting the auction usually does so on the order of a higher authority who has the power to issue such an order. So unless the person conducting the auction is authorised by an order, or is authorised to do so as a part of his normal duties, the auction is illegal.

The person participating must know that they or the person they are representing are legally incapable of participating. So if a person bidding in the auction is not aware of their own legal incapacity or the incapacity of the persons whom they are representing, then he or she cannot be held culpable under the provisions of this section. Further if the person representing himself or another person has no idea that he or she is incapable of fulfilling the obligations of the auction, they may be treated more leniently by the court.

If the above two conditions are met, i.e., a person, representing himself or someone else, fully aware of the legal incapacity of such participation or the lack of intention to fulfil the obligations of the participation is found bidding in a legal auction being conducted by a lawfully authorised officer, then such persons will be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both.