JUDGMENT :

The instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been preferred by the petitioner, 3 [three] in nos., assailing the action on the part of the Naoboicha Anchalik Panchayat in settling Dejoo Saturday Weekly Market in favour of the respondent no. 8 inter-alia on the grounds that the bid values of the petitioners were higher than the bid value offered by the respondent no. 8. The additional grounds on which the impugned order of settlement have been challenged are : firstly, the bid value offered by the petitioner no. 1 being more than Rs.1,00,000/-, there was violation of the provisions of Section 109[6] of the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994, as amended; and secondly, there was clear violation of the provisions of Section 105[4] of the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994, as amended, as there was no confirmation of the settlement order passed by the Anchalik Panchayat by the jurisdictional Zilla Panchayat.

2. The facts which are necessary for adjudication of the issues raised in this writ petition can be exposited, in brief, as follows:-

2.1 A Tender Notice dated 23.05.2022 for settlement of 8 [eight] nos. of markets [‘Tender Notice’, for short] was published by the respondent no. 5 inviting sealed bids from intending bidders for their settlement for the Panchayat Year : 2022-2023, as per the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994, as amended, that is, for the period from 01.07.2022 to 30.06.2023. One of the markets in respect of which bids were called for, was Dejoo Saturday Weekly Market [‘the Market’, for short] within the territorial jurisdiction of Naoboicha Anchalik Panchayat and Lakhimpur Zilla Parishad. As per the Tender Notice, the yearly sale value of the Market was fixed at Rs.84,814/-. The last date of submission of bids was originally fixed on 14.06.2022. By a subsequent Notice dated 13.06.2022, the last date of submission of bids was, however, extended to 17.06.2022.

2.2 It is an admitted position, as revealed from the records of settlement, that in response to the Tender Notice for settlement of the Market, a total of 10 nos. of bids were received from the bidders quoting different bid values. The bid values, in descending order, quoted by the 10 nos. of bidders were as under :-

2.3 After submission of the bids, the sealed bids were opened by the Naoboicha Anchalik Panchayat. In the affidavit-in-opposition filed by the respondent nos. 5 & 6, it has been averred that the sealed bids were opened by the General Standing Committee of Naoboicha Anchalik Panchayat, constituted under Section 52[1][a] of the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994. It has emerged from the case papers that subsequent thereto, an undated order of settlement came to be issued in respect of the Market whereby the Market had been settled in favour of the respondent no. 8 for the period from 01.07.2022 to 30.06.2023 at the bid value offered by the respondent no. 8.

3. I have heard Mr. P.K. Deka, learned counsel for the petitioners; Mr. N.K. Dev Nath, learned Standing Counsel, Panchayat and Rural Development [P&RD] Department for the respondent nos. 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6; Mr. N. Goswami, learned Junior Government Advocate, Assam for the respondent no. 3; and Mr. U. Dutta, learned counsel for the respondent no. 8.

4. The service of notice was effected upon the respondent no. 7 by way of dastiand the petitioner had submitted a compliance affidav