On or after the 1st of September each year the Warden of Fisheries, Punjab, or any officer specially appointed by him for the purpose, shall put to public auction the right of fishing in the specified public waters or portion of the public waters in each district and shall grant a licence to fish to the highest bidder, if the highest bid is that of a Fishermen Co-operative Society, in respect of each public water on payment of the amount offered by him in full or by instalments as hereinafter provided. In case the highest bid is not of a Fishermen Co-operative Society, the contract will be given to highest bidder only if his bid is at least 10 per cent more than the highest bid of a Fishermen Co-operative Society. In case the highest bid is not above 10 per cent of the highest bid of Fishermen Co-operative Society, the contract will be knocked down in favour of the Fishermen Co-operative Society.Provided that in case of contingencies, the auctioning authorities shall have the right to fix a reserve price for the water under auction. If the highest bid is below the reserve price, Government will have the right to reject highest bid. In such cases the Department itself will exploit that water for catching and selling of fish.
