Point of Law: Co-operative Society’ -It is for the Settling Authority in the Fishery Department, Government of Assam to examine the enforceability of the Notification in the context of its publication or non-publication in the Official Gazette to bind the participant bidders.

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-governmental organizations [NGOs] formed with fishermen and the bidder should belong to the concerned district and be in the neibourhood of the Fishery.

2. In response to the Tender Notice dated 27.02.2020, 5 [five] nos. of bidders including M/s Gauripur Fishery Co-operative Society Ltd. [hereinafter referred to as ‘the petitioner society’, for short] and M/s Geramari Gaon Panchayat Meen Samabai Samity Ltd. [hereinafter referred as ‘the respondent no. 7 society’, for short], submitted their bids quoting different bid values. The Settling Authority in the Fishery Department, Government of Assam after receipt of the tender documents of the 5 [five] participant bidders, on being forwarded by the Tender Inviting Authority, had found the bid of the respondent no. 7 society as the highest valid bid and the Fishery had been settled in favour of the respondent no. 7 society at a total settlement value of Rs. 1,90,05,000/- for the period of 7 [seven] years @ Rs. 27,15,000/-per annum by an order of settlement dated 26.02.2021.

3. The order of settlement dated 26.02.2021 has been made the subject-matter of challenge by the petitioner society in this writ petition instituted under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The petitioner society has also made subject-matters of challenge, [i] a Report bearing no. GRP[S].3/2019/339 dated 28.08.2020 submitted by the Circle Officer, Gauripur Revenue Circle, District – Dhubri i.e. the respondent no. 6; [ii] a Speaking Order bearing no. DRFS/2020 dated 14.09.2020 passed by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Dhubri i.e. the respondent no. 5; and [iii] a Report bearing no. DRF.5/2020/441-42 dated 29.09.2020 of the Deputy Commissioner, Dhubri i.e. the respondent no. 4; in the writ petition with a further prayer for a writ in the nature of mandamus for a direction to settle the Fishery in favour of the petitioner society contending that it is the petitioner society who is the highest valid bidder and the respondent no. 7 society is not the highest valid bidder.

4. After expiry of the bid submission time at 2-00 p.m. on 16.03.2020, the bids were opened at 3-00 p.m. on 16.03.2020 itself in presence of the authorized representatives of the participant bidders and the members of the Committee, headed by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Dhubri, which was constituted for the purpose of scrutiny of the bids. The Committee after scrutiny of the tender documents, prepared a Comparative Statement [CS] making its remarks with regard to each of the documents/certificates required to be submitted with the tender documents against the respective heads in the CS. As the two contesting societies herein had started litigating immediately thereafter, it appears necessary, at first, to look into the events that happened during the period of on