JUDGMENT :

The petitioner has instituted the instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India challenging an Order bearing no. ZPD-231/AAP/Settlement/HGF/2022-23/27 dated 04.08.2022 passed by the respondent no. 2 i.e. the Chief Executive Officer, Dhubri Zilla Parishad and a subsequent Order bearing no. AAP/13Hat/Ghat/Min Mahal-2022-23/3601 dated 22.08.2022 passed by the respondent no. 3 i.e. the Executive Officer, Agomoni Anchalik Panchayat. By the impugned order dated 04.08.2022, the respondent no. 2 did not accord confirmation to the proposal for settlement of a fishery named ‘Falimari Beel’ [‘the Fishery’, for short] sent from the Agomoni Anchalik Panchayat, in favour of the petitioner on the premise that the petitioner did not affix the requisite court-fee stamps with his bid with the further observation that if the settlement of the Fishery was made in favour of the petitioner, the same would not be in conformity with Clause 10 of the Notice Inviting Tender dated 23.05.2022 [‘the NIT’]. The respondent no. 2 had further directed the respondent no. 3 to proceed for settlement of the Fishery in terms of Clause 10 of the Tender Notice and to settle the Fishery to the next higher bidder. By acting in terms of the Order dated 04.08.2022, the respondent no. 3 had passed the order dated 22.08.2022 settling the Fishery in favour of the respondent no. 5 at his offered bid value of Rs. 36,779/-.

2. The factual matrix leading to the passing of impugned Order on 04.08.2022 can be narrated, in brief, as follows :

By a Tender Notice dated 23.05.2022 published by the Agomoni Anchalik Panchayat, sealed bids were invited from interested bidders for settlement of a number of markets/ghats/fisheries falling under its jurisdiction for the Panchayat Financial Year : 2022-2023 and for the period from 01.07.2022 to 30.06.2023 as per the provisions of the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994, as amended. The last date of submission of bids was up to 02-00 p.m. on 15.06.2022. One of the fisheries included for settlement in the NIT dated 23.05.2022 was ‘Falimari Beel’ [‘the Fishery’] under the Agomoni Anchalik Panchayat. The yearly sale value of the Fishery was mentioned as Rs. 32,999/-and the earnest money required to be deposited by a bidder belonging to General Category was mentioned as Rs. 3,300/-. 50% of Rs. 3,300/-was to be deposited by a bidder belonging to Scheduled Caste [SC]/Scheduled Tribe [ST] category as the earnest money.

2.1. In response to the Tender Notice, 8 [eight] nos. of bidders including the petitioner and the respondent no. 5, had submitted their bids quoting different bid values and those bid values, in descending order, were as under :-

2.2. After receipt of the bids from the participant bidders, the General Standing Committee of the Anchalik Panchayat opened the bids of all the bidders. Thereafter, the General Standing Committee of the Anchalik Panchayat examined the tender papers and recorded their comments in respect of each of the bids in a Comparative Statement prepared in terms of sub-rule [8] of Rule 47 of the Assam Panchayat [Financial] Rules, 2002. The office of the Anchalik Panchayat thereafter, forwarded the tender papers along with the Comparative Statement recording their comments at relevant places therein, to the office of the Dhubri Zilla Parishad for confirmation to the proposal for settlement of the Fishery in favour of the petitioner in terms of sub-section [4] of Section 109[6] of the Assam Panchayat