‘Bidders collude’, MCG to go for online auctions

GURUGRAM: MCG will be conducting e-auction for properties for which taxes have not been paid despite the corporation issuing several notices in that regard. This announcement came after MCG’s offline property auction on Wednesday had to be called off as bidders colluded and quoted extremely low prices for properties.
MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav said that preparations for the e-auction process were under way and in the future, all auctions would be completely online. “We found out from our team that the bidders had come together to demand properties at lower prices. Hence, we called off the auction and from now on, we will only hold e-auctions,” he said.

He added that directions in this regard had been issued to the joint commissioners and the auctions would be marketed through public notices. Currently, the corporation is also offering a 10% rebate to all property owners for clearing their taxes for 2018-19 by June 30.

On Wednesday, 34 properties were to be auctioned at the open air theatre in Sector 29. However, 25 property owners cleared the dues before the auction. The officials started the process to auction the rest of the nine properties. A 638 square foot shop in Palam Vihar was the first property to be auctioned at a reserve price of Rs 1.27 lakh.

“The bidders colluded and collectively decided to not go beyond the price of Rs 1.57 lakh and hence, the bid ended at that,” said sources in the know of the matter. Sensing some understanding among the bidders, the officials informed their seniors in the corporation and a decision was taken to stop the auction mid way. This is not the first instance where an auction faced such an issue.

Even at earlier auctions, officials had to haggle with bidders for the right price. At the last auction organised by MCG, many properties in prime locations were sold at prices lower than the market prices.