GAUHATI HIGH COURT ISSUES ORDER ON NISHARI HARIA NADI MEEN SAMABAY SAMITY V/S THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 6 ORS

GUWAHATI, India, Aug. 27 -- Gauhati High Court issued the following order on July 28:

1. Heard Mr. D. Ullah, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and Ms. U. Das, the learned Additional Senior Government Advocate appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1 to 5. I have also heard Mr. H. Ali, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent No.7. None appears on behalf of the respondent No.6.

2. The petitioner herein has assailed the order dated 05.07.2021 issued by the Joint Secretary to the Government of Assam, Fishery Department whereby No.23(A) Barpani/Gabeel/Fakali Fishery in Nagaon District was settled with the respondent No.7 for a period of 7 (seven) years.

3. For deciding as to whether the present case is a fit case for exercising the powers of judicial review, this Court finds it relevant to take note of the brief facts which led to the filing of the present proceedings.

4. The materials on record shows that on 08.06.2020, the Deputy Commissioner, Nagaon who is the respondent No.4 herein had issued a tender for settlement of No.23(A) Barpani/Gabeel/Fakali Meen Mahal (hereinafter referred to as "the fishery in question") for a period of 7 years. The petitioner, respondent No.7 and others had participated in the said tender process.

5. It is relevant to take note of that at the time of submission of bid, the petitioner along with its documents submitted a Bakijai Clearance Certificate issued by the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Nagaon in the name of its Secretary namely Shri Naba Kumar Biswas. The materials on record shows that one M/S Nagaon District Federation of Cooperative Society Ltd. had quoted the highest bid of Rs.61,00,000/- per annum. The respondent No.7 had quoted Rs.14,00,000/- per annum and the petitioner herein quoted an amount of Rs.8,09,695/- per annum. The Fishery Department of the Government of Assam through the Joint Secretary to the Government of Assam passed an order on 05.07.2021 whereby the Fishery in question was settled in favour of the respondent No.7. It is under such circumstances, the petitioner has approached this Court challenging the order dated 05.07.2021.

6. The contention of the petitioner herein is that there was a due of Rs.9,25,740/- in respect to Era Kapili Beel for the year 2018-2019 to 2020-21 in Hojai District of the respondent No.7 society and there was also a Bakijai case registered in respect thereto and in spite of that, the respondent authorities had settled the fishery in favour of the respondent No.7.

7. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner drew the attention of this Court to the communication dated 23.04.2021 issued by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Bakijai Branch, Hojai wherein it was mentioned that the Bakijai case was registered in the office bearing Bakijai Case No.1/2020 against one Chandra Kumar Biswas in respect to Era Kapili Beel with liability for the year 2018-2019 to 2020-2021 for an amount of Rs.9,25,740/-. The petitioner further referred to the communication issued by the Project Manager In-charge, Retired Middle Assam Region, Morigaon wherein a status report was submitted to the Managing Director/OSD of the AFDC wherein it was mentioned that from the Office record, it was found that one Chandra Kumar Biswas was liable to pay Rs.9,25,740/- for the year 2018-2019 to 2020-2021. On the basis of the said, two documents which are enclosed as Annexure-7 and Annexure-10 to the writ petition, the learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the respondent authorities could not have settled the fishery in question in favour of the respondent No.7.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=QnBUxJ6a3gIx%2B5SFrUiAoNFhvTmvn3liipUDp8XuQPM8XFeNCppYYtFgvU6qDlLu&caseno=WP(C)/3277/2021&cCode=1&cino=GAHC010102552021&state_code=6&appFlag=)

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