Durga Charan Mandal vs The State Of Assam And 4 Ors on 18 March, 2015
14. The expression "yearly sale value", as appearing in Section 109(6) of
the Act ("Yearly Sale Value" is not defined in the Act), came to be considered
by a Full Bench of this Court in the case of Harej Ali and Another v. State
of Assam and Others, reported in 2009 (2) GLT 561. The Full Bench held
that "yearly sale value" of a property, put on sale through a tender system, for
one year, would be the amount of money which will be received after the
highest bid value of the eligible bidder, is accepted by the authority concerned.
The Full Bench in the aforesaid case held that there is no provision to allow
and/or permit any other authority, except the office of the Anchalik Panchayat
by its President, the power to invite tenders for settlement of Hats, Ferries and
Fisheries falling within its territorial jurisdiction and there is no scope to
interpret that Section 109(6) of the Act gives absolute power to Zilla Parishad
to invite tenders, examine and scrutinize and, then, finally to accept and
approve the highest eligible bidder for the purpose of issuance of settlement
order. The Full Bench also held that the procedures prescribed in sub-Rule
9(5) and sub-Rule (7) of Rule 47 of the Rules, for opening, processing and
settling of the tenders, cannot vest the Zilla Parishad with the power to invite
tenders and that Section 109(6) only empowers the Zilla Parishad to examine
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and finally accept such tenders if the "yearly sale value" is more than Rs. 1
lakh. The Full Bench had laid down that after having floated a tender, if the
bid value of the eligible highest bidder is less than Rs. 1 lakh, the Standing
Committee of Anchalik Panchayat concerned, constituted under Section 52 of
the Act, will examine and accept the tender of the highest eligible bidder and
forward it to the Zilla Parishad for confirmation in terms of Section 105(4),
106(4) and 109(4) of the Act, as the case may be. However, after submission
of all tender papers before the Anchalik Panchayat, if the bid value offered by
the highest eligible bidder is found to be more than Rs. 1 lakh, the Standing
Committee of the Anchalik Panchayat, shall immediately forward such tender
papers submitted by the bidders, together with the comparative chart
prepared and processed as per the procedure prescribed, to the Zilla Parishad
concerned for doing the needful at their end.