The High Court has ruled that a writ petition cannot be filed directly to challenge the validity of a property auction conducted by a bank under the Money Loan Court Act, reaffirming that aggrieved parties must seek remedies through the legal mechanisms provided in the law.

The verdict was delivered on July 16 by a High Court bench comprising Justice Md Mojibur Rahman Mia and Justice Rezaul Karim in the case of ATM Ashraful Islam Helal vs Bangladesh and others. The full text of the judgment was made available on Wednesday.

The court dismissed the writ petition, discharged the rule and vacated the interim order, holding that the petitioner had failed to comply with an earlier court directive requiring full repayment of the outstanding loan within 90 days.

According to the case records, ATM Ashraful Islam Helal obtained a loan of Tk 3 million from a bank in 2017. After he defaulted on repayment, the outstanding amount rose to Tk 4.28 million. The bank auctioned the mortgaged property in January 2022 after issuing a sale notice the previous month. The property was sold for Tk 7 million, and the sale deed was registered in the buyer’s name in June 2022.


Helal later filed a writ petition challenging the auction and transfer of the property. Although the High Court initially stayed the transfer, the order was conditional upon full repayment of the outstanding dues within 90 days. As the petitioner failed to meet that condition, the stay order automatically lapsed.

In its judgment, the court observed that once an auction sale is completed and the deed is legally registered in the purchaser’s name, the buyer acquires a final legal title that cannot ordinarily be challenged through a writ petition after the prescribed legal period.

The court further noted that Sections 12(3) and 12(8) of the Money Loan Court Act provide alternative legal remedies for challenging auction-related disputes. As such, a writ petition is not maintainable where an effective statutory remedy exists.

However, the court directed the bank to return any surplus amount remaining from the auction proceeds after adjusting the outstanding loan and other lawful dues to the petitioner.