High Court
Case Details
WP(C) 282/2013 BEFORE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE B.K. SHARMA Heard Mr. A. Ahmed, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mrs. H.M. Ph ukan, learned State Counsel. By means of this writ petition, the petitioners numbering 6 have prayed for a di rection to the respondents to allot space/ rooms in the newly constructed shop p remises at Patiladaha daily market in the district of Bongaigaon. According to t he petitioners, before constructing the market complex, they had been running th eir business like Tailoring, Pan Shops and Tea Stall in the daily market of Pati ladaha under the Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat. According to them, they had been r unning their business for the last 16-17 years. The Executive Officer, Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat, Manikpur by his letter dated 21.7.2009 made a request to the petitioners to vacate their existing shops faci litating construction of 24 sheds in the market. The petitioners were assured th at on completion of the construction, they would be given preference in the matt er of allotment of shops. However, when the petitioners were not allotted the sh ops in lieu of their earlier existing shops, which they had vacated on the reque st of the said Executive Officer, they made a grievance against the same, but th e same having not yielded any result, they filed the instant writ petition. In the counter affidavit filed by the respondent No. 5, it has been stated thus:
Decision
(cid:28)7. That with regard to the statements made in paragraph 6 of the writ petition, the deponent states that as per certificate of Md. Jahanuddin the lessee of Pat iladaha Market it is obvious that the petitioners are not permanent businessmen of the former opened market shed, they were running their business only in front of one room of the newly constructed market shed. They can run their business a gain in open place of the newly constructed Market Shed. As we have known that m ost of the petitioners are running their previous business nearby and in front o f the constructed Market Shed at Patiladaha Market. 8. That with regard to the statements made in paragraph 7 of the writ petition, the deponent states that as per resolution NO. 1&2 of the meeting of Manikpur An chalik Panchayat held on 15-07-2009 a construction and monitoring committee was formed and all works of the scheme (cid:28)Const. Of market shed with earth filling, br ick soling with const. of sanitation structure such as latrine and urinal and co nstruction of ring well at Patiladaha Doinik Bazar (cid:29) was supervised by this commi ttee. When Sri KAmal Das of Patiladaha Bazar submitted his petition on 08-11-201 2, at that time , the construction committee did not hand over the Market Shed t o Manikpur Shed to Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat and allotment/settlement process of market shed could not be initiated. 9. That with regard to the statements made in paragraph 8 of the writ petition, the deponent states that a report regarding completion of construction of Market Shed at Patiladaha Market prepared by Sri Haripada Saha, A.P Member of Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat who took active part for construction of the said Market She d in favour of the construction Committee and submitted the report before the Pr esident of Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat. The President of Manikpur Anchalik Panch ayat endorsed on the body of the report to the Executive Officer of Manikpur Anc halik Panchayat directing to convene a meeting of A.P Members for discussion the matter and forwarded it to the Executive Officer of Manikpur A.P on 03.12.2012. As per direction of the President of Manikpur A.P a meeting was convened on 05- 12-2012 in the conference Hall of Manikpur A.P where all A.P members of Manikpur A.P were present. In the meeting the construction and allotment/settlement matt er of the said Market Shed was discussed elaborately. At the time of discussion Sri Haripada Saha set to the meeting that the construction works of the said Ma rket Shed was not completed by the fund sanctioned from Bogaigaon Zilla Parishad then as per verbal approval from the President of Manikpur A.P, he himself took the initiative for completion the construction works of the incomplete Market S hed. Under the circumstance Sri Haripada Saha and locally formed construction co mmittee invited advance money from local interested persons and businessmen and completed the incomplete Market Shed by collecting advanced money. He requested to give preference for allotting the rooms of the Market Shed to those persons a nd businessmen who gave advance money for completion of construction of said Mar ket Shed. In this meeting all the members expressed their opinions and enlisted all these opinions in minutes of the meeting. At last suggestion was given in m eeting from the side of the Executive Officer. The main suggestion was that for setting the rooms of the said Market Shed firstly, a Notice inviting application s from all concerns and formulation of rules and conditions of this Notice. Seco ndly, convene a meeting of Anchalik Panchayat to scrutiny the application and se lect the deserving persons/ businessmen for room allotment. Thirdly assessment o f monthly rent and security money for each room of the Market Shed. According to these suggestions 03(Three) crucial resolution was adopted in the meeting . Fir st resolution was about Notice to invite application, second resolution about su bmission of the accounts collected advance money and third about the application s of the businessmen who were running their temporary business in front of the M arket Shed. As per resolution the preparation of the Notice for inviting application was alm ost completed and fixed the last date of receiving applications on 24-12-2012. B ut in the meantime on 17-12-2012 State Election Commission declared Panchayat El ection- 2012-2103 and Election Code of Conduct started in the State. Under this circumstance Notice could not be invited for inviting application for settlement s of rooms of Market Shed and stopped the process till the end of election Code of Conduct. After postponing the process from the side of the executive Officer of M anikpur Anchalik Panchayat it was apprised from unofficial sources that the pres ident of Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat allotted/ settled to some persons the rooms of Market Shed Of Patiladaha Market ignoring the executive Officer of Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat . No allotment/ settlement order issued to the occupier of th e rooms from the side of executive Officer of Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat. Moreo ver, no documents submitted regarding settlement form the side of the President Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat till date. 10. That with regard to the statements made in paragraph 9 of the writ petition, the deponent states that the applications submitted by the petitioners were pla ced before the meeting of the Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat held on 05-12-2012 and requested to discuss the matter. The committee consented to discuss the matters of the applications in next meeting and adopted a resolution (Resolution No.3). 11. That with regard to the statements made in paragraph 10 of the writ petition , the deponent states that as per section 63(2) of the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994 , (cid:28)the Executive Officer shall attend every meeting of the Manikpur Anchalik Pan chayat and shall have right to attend the meetings of the committees thereof and take part in the discussion but shall not have the right to move any resolution or to vote. (cid:29) In the meeting of Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat held on 05-12-2012, suggestion was delivered for inviting application from all concerns by Notice so that deserving persons/businessmen can be selected for room allotment. When the process was postponed due to Election Code of Conduct the President of Manikpur Anchalik Panchayat herself allotted the rooms ignoring the Executive Officer. A t present, as per resolution of the earlier meeting, fresh notice cannot be floa ted for room allotment of the said market shed. (cid:29) From the above, it is seen that a notice was issued inviting application for for mation of rules and conditions of allotment. A meeting of the Anchalik Panchayat was also to be convened to scrutinize the application and select the deserving persons/businessman for room allotment. Monthly rents etc. were also to be fixed . However, no action could be taken in view of declaration of Panchayat election result on 17.12.2012. From the above quoted paragraphs of the counter affidavit, it is seen that one S ri Haripada Saha was given upper hand in the matter, although, construction was to be carried out from Government fund. It is also revealed that the President o f the Anchalik Panchayat allotted rooms ignoring the Executive Officer of the An chalik Panchayat. Such allotments have been made without issuing any formal orde r. If the petitioners were in occupation of the earlier existing rooms from where t hey had been running their business and also they had vacated the said premises enabling the construction of the new market complex certainly they are entitled to get preference in the matter of allotment of the rooms/sheds. In paragraph-7 of the counter affidavit, it has been stated that the petitioners can run their business again in the open space infront of the newly constructed market complex . In view of the above, the writ petition is disposed of directing the respondents to take a conscious decision in the matter and consider the case of the petitio ners taking not of the fact that they had been running their business from befor e. Let the appropriate decision be taken as expeditiously as possible, preferabl y within two months.