A statutory authority must exercise its discretion independently as mandated by law. Abdicating this decision-making power to an external, non-statutory functionary, or acting solely at the behest of such an authority, renders administrative decisions patently illegal and violates fundamental principles of fairness and the rule of law.

JUDGMENT :

Manish Choudhury, J.

Invoking the extra-ordinary and discretionary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has preferred the instant writ petition for a direction to the respondent authorities in the Excise Department, Government of Assam to complete the process of issuance of Indian-Made Foreign Liquor [IMFL] ‘Off’ retail licence for Sonai area of District – Cachar, Assam in compliance with the terms and conditions laid down in a Public Notice dated 12.11.2021 in a fair and transparent manner and strictly in terms of the provisions of the Assam Excise Act, 2016, as amended, and the Assam Excise Rules, 2016, as amended.

2. The genesis of the lis is a Public Notice bearing no. CXE.09/2017/194 dated 12.11.2021 published under the hand of the respondent no. 3. The Notice was published in daily newspapers vide Janasanyog/D/9489/2021. By the Notice, applications were invited from interested and intending eligible persons in the prescribed format for issuance of fresh IMFL ‘Off’ retail licences at two localities, namely, [i] Dholai and [ii] Sonai in the district of Cachar, Assam.

3. The case of the petitioner is that in response to the Notice, he being an inhabitant of Silchar Town, submitted the application for retail IMFL ‘Off’ licence for the advertised location, Sonai at Silchar with all the relevant documents as per the terms and conditions laid down in the Notice and in conformity with the Check-List contained in the prescribed format prepared by the Excise Branch, O/o the District Commissioner, Cachar, Silchar.

4. It is the further case of the petitioner that he came to learn that the respondent no. 5 had also submitted his application for the licence for the location at Sonai, Silchar. When the petitioner came to learn that the Office of the District Commissioner, Cachar forwarded the application of the respondent no. 5 for approval to the higher authorities, the petitioner submitted an Objection before the respondent no. 2 on 29.06.2022 as the respondent no. 2 being the District Collector, is the Licencing Authority for issuance of IMFL ‘Off’ retail licences under the provisions of the Assam Excise Rules, 2016, as amended. When the Objection dated 29.06.2022 requesting not to allot the IMFL ‘Off’ retail licence to the respondent no. 5 at Sonai did not evoke any response, the petitioner submitted an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 [‘the RTI Act’, for short] before the respondent no. 2 on 21.07.2022 seeking status of his application for grant of the IMFL ‘Off’ licence at Sonai submitted pursuant to the Public Notice dated 12.11.2021. In response to the RTI Application of the petitioner, the respondent no. 4 provided the Information under the RTI Act vide an Office Letter no. CXE.[P].23/2007/Pt/171 dated 17.08.2022.

5. In the Information provided on 17.08.2022, it was mentioned that the application of the petitioner and two other applications were forwarded to the Secretary to the Guardian Minister of Cachar District, Dispur vide an Office Letter dated 14.12.2021 as per a Government Letter bearing no. EX.145/2017/82 dated 25.10.2021 for appraisal and necessary approva