A writ petition under Article 226 for the registration of an FIR is premature and should not be entertained if the petitioner has not exhausted the sequential statutory remedies available under the BNSS (or CrPC), specifically approaching the Superintendent of Police and the jurisdictional Magistrate.

JUDGMENT

Heard Mr. N.H. Mazarbhuiyan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. S.S. Roy, learned Junior Government Advocate, Assam for the all the respondents.

2. The case of the petitioner is that Lanka Municipal Board, District - Hojai, Assam invited quotations from intending suppliers for supply of sand gravels vide a Tender Notice, NIT no. LMB320/2022/153-157 dated 18.05.2022. In response to the NIT, the petitioner submitted his tender quoting rate @ Rs. 925/- per cubic meter of sand gravel. The petitioner has claimed that the rate quoted by him was the lowest rate. The date of opening of the tender box was 26.05.2022. The petitioner has stated that the Municipal Board prepared a comparative statement according to which, the lowest quoted rate was Rs. 925/- per cubic meter of sand gravel. But, the Municipal Board accepted the tender of one Chabi Tapadar at a higher rate @ Rs. 1,250/- per cubic meter of sand graval. The petitioner has claimed that the beneficiary did not file the Tax Clearance Certificate along with the Tender Documents and submitted the Tax Clearance Certificate only on 27.05.2024, that is, after the last date of submission of the Tender Documents.

3. The petitioner had earlier approached this Court by a writ petition, W.P.[C] no.1332/2025 and the said writ petition was dismissed by an Order dated 15.09.2025. In the writ petition, the petitioner sought for a criminal investigation as regards the alleged irregularities committed by the Lanka Municipal Board during the afore-mentioned tender process. As the petitioner before approaching this Court by the writ petition did not file any FIR, the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court while dismissing the writ petition by an Order dated 15.09.2025, had observed that the question of issuance of any directions for a criminal investigation was not warranted. Liberty was, however, granted to the petitioner to take recourse to the appropriate provisions of law, if so advised.

4. In this writ petition, the petitioner has stated that after dismissal of the previous writ petition, W.P.[C] no. 1332/2025, the petitioner sent a First Information Report [FIR] to the Officer In-Charge, Lanka Police Station on 18.09.2025 by registered post. It is stated that the Officer In-Charge, Lanka Police Station did not register the said FIR. Thereafter, the petitioner submitted an application under the Right to Information Act before the Superintendent of Police, Hojai on 23.06.2026 seeking information regarding the afore-mentioned FIR. But, no information has been furnished to the petitioner till date.

5. With the above projections, the petitioner has instituted the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking invocation of the extra- ordinary jurisdiction of this Court for a direction to the respondent authorities to register and investigate the case on the basis of the FIR sent by him to the Officer In-Charge, Lanka Police Station on 18.09.2025.

6. Mr. Roy, learned Junior Government Advocate, Assam appearing for the State respondents has submitted that in the event the FIR, stated to have been sent by the petitioner, disclosing commission of any cognizable offence, has not been registered by the Officer In-Charge of the jurisdictional Police Station and also, by the jurisdictional Superintendent of Police or if no action has been taken on the basis of any application submitted by the petitioner before such authorities, the petitioner ought to have approached the jurisdictional Magistrate as per the provisions of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita [BNSS], 2023 [earlier, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973].

7. It has been observed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Sakari Vasu vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and others, [2008] 2 SCC 409, that the Magistrate had very wide powers under Section 156[3], Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [‘the CrPC’, or ‘the Code’, for short] to direct registration of an FIR and to ensure a proper investigation, and for this purpose,