Judgment · High Court

Both the writ petitions raising same dispute have been taken together an d are being disposed of this common order. The short issue for consideration of this Court is as to whether it is t he Govt. value fixed in respect of the Par Ghat is the determining factor for ma king settlement or it is the bid value offered by the tenderers which is the det ermining factor so far as the jurisdiction of the authority is concerned. As per Section 109 (6) of the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994 in case of huts, ferries and f isheries falling under any Anchalik Panchayat, yearly sale value of which is mo re than Rs. 1 lakh, shall be settled by the Zila Parishad. In other words, in r espect of huts, fisheries etc. the yearly sale value of which is less than Rs. 1 lakh, will be settled by Anchalik Panchayat. In the instant case, there is no d ispute that the yearly sale value of the concerned Par Ghats fixed by the Govt. is less than Rs. 1 lakh and the same are valued at Rs. 25,500/- and Rs. 26,000/ - respectively. In view of the above, the respective Anchalik Panchayat issued the NIT i n response to which the petitioners and others submitted their tender. On concl usion of the tender process, the Par Ghats were settled with the two petitioners . The period of settlement is from 01.07.08 to 30.06.09. The petitioners deposit ed the kist money for running the Par Ghats. It was at that stage, the Zila Pari shad intervened in the matter and cancelled the settlement made in favour of the petitioners and instead settled the Par Ghats with the private respondents on the plea that the bids offered by them were more than Rs. 1 lakh. Since the bid value offered by the private respondents was more than Rs. 1 lakh, the Zila Pari shad was of the opinion that in terms of Section 109 (6) of the Act, it is the Z ila Parishad which is vested with the power and jurisdiction to make settlement. The records produced by Ms. R. Chokraborty, learned Addl. Sr. G.A. depic t that the Govt. yearly sale value of the said two Par Ghats is Rs. 25,500/- and 26,000/- respectively. If that be so, the jurisdiction to make settlement of th e Par Ghats is with the Anchalik Panchayat. The Zila Parishad cannot have juris diction in the matter merely because some of the tenderers offered bid value of more than Rs. 1 lakh. The issue is no longer res integra and has been decided by the Division Bench of this Court in Nagaon Zila Parishad vs. Razia Begum in WA No. 325/03 a nd others and a batch of writ petitions decided on 01.10.03. By the said decisio n the Division Bench interpreting the provision of Section 109 (6) of the Assam Panchayat Act dealt with the distribution of power and jurisdiction of Anchalik Panchayat and Zila Parishad. In the instant case since the Govt. annual sale value in respect of two Part Ghats is below Rs. 1 lakh, it is the Anchalik Panchayat which is within it s competence and jurisdiction to make the settlement which they accordingly did and the petitioner are the beneficiaries of such settlement. That being the posi tion, Zila Parishad could not have assumed jurisdiction over the Anchalik Panch ayat so as to make the impugned settlement with the private respondents. In view of the above, both the writ petitions are allowed and the impugn ed orders of settlement both dated 23.07.08 (Annexure-4) are set aside and quash ed. Consequently it is the petitioners who will run the Par Ghats as per the ord ers of settlement made by the respective Anchalik Panchayat.. With the above directions, the writ petitions are allowed, without, howe ver, any order as to costs.