JUDGMENT :

The fishery named Group no. 1/87 Dharnad Brahmaputra Part I & Satakuri Nadi Fishery in Dhubri District [hereinafter referred to as ‘the Fishery’, in short, for the sake of brevity] is a 60% category fishery and it is required to be settled as per the provisions contained in Rule 12 of the Assam Fishery Rules, 1953. Just before expiry of the tenure of the earlier settlement of the Fishery, the Deputy Commissioner, Dhubri [the respondent no. 4] as the Tender Inviting Authority published a Tender Notice on 27.02.2020 inviting bids for settlement of the Fishery for a period of 7 [seven] years. The Fishery was earlier settled for a period of 7 [seven] years from 04.03.2013 to 03.03.2020 at an annual amount of Rs. 8,57,750/-per annum. In the Tender Notice dated 27.02.2020, the minimum Government value of the Fishery was fixed at Rs. 8,10,000/-per annum and the last time and date of submission of bids were fixed at 2-00 p.m. on 16.03.2020. The Tender Notice had, interalia, stated that the Fishery would be settled with co-operative societies/self-help groups [SHGs]/non-gove