(1.) The Collector, Agra, respondent No. 1, made a declaration by publication for holding an auction of fisheries rights of river Yamuna Part III for the period 1-1-1982 to 31-12-1982 under Section 122-A of the U. P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act read with Para 60 of the U. P. Gaon Sabha and Bhumi Prabandhak Samiti Manual, hereinafter referred to as 'the Manual', in accordance with the terms and conditions incorporated in the auction notice attached as Annexure CA 2 to the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents Nos. 1, 6 and 7 i. e. the Collector, Agra, the District Land Reforms Officer, Agra and the State of Uttar Pradesh. The conditions of the auction, inter alia, were that a bidder would be required to deposit a sum of Rs. 1,000/- as advance, thereafter furnish a certificate of solvency and then he would be entitled to participate in the auction. It was also provided that the bidder in whose favour the auction concluded would have to deposit one/fourth of the bid amount immediately and in the event of default his advance money i. e. Rs. 1,000/- would be forfeited and the bid would stand cancelled. Para 6 of the Conditions, stipulated that at the conclusion of the bids the highest bidder would be required to deposit one-fourth of the bid amount immediately and after ob-obtaining the sanction of the Collector he would have to deposit another one-fourth prior to the execution of the lease; thereafter the remaining half of the amount would have to be deposited in two equal instalments within six months. In the event of default in depositing the instalments the Collector shall be competent to cancel the lease and order reauction and recover the loss from the lessee. Para 9 of the Terms and Conditions is important and it is to the effect that ordinarily lease shall be executed in favour of the highest bidder but the Collector will have the right not to accept such highest bid and accept a lower bid and that the decision of the Collector in this respect shall be final. Para 24 of the Conditions provided that all disputes relating to the lease shall be decided by the Collector or his nominee.
(2.) Initially the auction of the fisheries rights for Gaon Sabha Naunihai in respect of Yamuna river Part III was held on 16-10-1981 by the District Land Officer, Agra, respondent No. 6. The petitioner's bid to the tune of Rs. 70,100/- was the highest bid whereas the bid of Ram Babu, respondent No. 3, was for Rs. 70,000/- only. These bids being considered inadequate by the respondent No. 1, The Collector, Agra, he ordered that the auction be held on the following day. Accordingly on 17-10-1981 again an auction was held in which the respondent No. 2, Jan Kalyan Samiti raised its bid to Rupees 1,50,200/-, the petitioner to Rs. 1,20,100/-, Ram Babu, respondent No. 3, to Rs. 97,100/-, Rais Khan, respondent No. 4, to Rupees 1,50,100/- and Sunehari Lal to Rs. 1,50,000/-. The bid of respondent No. 2, namely, Jan Kalyan Samiti, being the highest, was provisionally, accepted, subject to the approval of the Collector and a direction for deposit of one-fourth of the total bid amount was issued by the respondent No. 6. However, this auction was also cancelled on the ground that the auction bids in question were lower than those received in the preceding years, Consequently, the Additional Collector by his order dated 29-10-1981 directed reauction. The auction was then held on 5-11-1981 in which Sunehari Lal offered a bid of Rupees 2,00,000/-, Sri Rais Khan of Rs. 1,50,100/-, the petitioner of Rs. 1,51,000/- and Ram Babu of Rs. 1,50,000/-. The bid of Sunehari Lal being highest was provisionally accepted by the auctioning authority, namely, the District Land Reforms Officer but Sunehari Lal did not deposit one-fourth of the bid money and as such the auction held on 5-11-1981 was cancelled and the Additional Collector passed an order directing forfeiture of the earnest money deposited by Sunehari Lal and ordered reauction. The order was passed in accordance with condition No. 3 of the Terms and Conditions of the auction notice. In the circumstances on 7-11-1981 the petitioner filed an application purporting to be under para 60 (3) of the Manual asserting that he was a local fisherman and after the exclusion of the highest bid of Sunehari Lal on account of his failure to deposit one-fourth of the bid money, the petitioner became entitled to the acceptance of his bid, In these circumstances the District Land Reforms Officer recommended fresh auction and the Additional Collector after considering the petitioner's application dated 7-11-1981 ordered reauction, which took place on 23-11-1981. In the meantime the petitioner had preferred a revision before the Commissioner and at the time of reauction the petitioner again asserted by making an application dated 23-11-1981 that he was a local fisherman and that he did not want any rebate of 25% to which he was entitled under the Rules and that even if the highest bid of respondent No. 2 be taken into account, then after deducting 25% the net amount paid by the petitioner would be highest, since the respondent No. 2 had actually claimed such rebate. On the petitioner's application the auctioning officer passed an order :
(3.) But the petitioner did not offer any bid. The objection filed by the petitioner was ultimately rejected by the Collector, Agra by his order dated 22-12-1981 and the auction held on 23-11-1981 was declared valid. It was by virtue of that auction that fisheries rights of river Yamuna Part III for the year 1982 were finalised in favour of the respondent No. 2 i. e. Jan Kalyan Samiti. On these facts the petitioner has prayed for a writ of certiorari for quashing of the order of the Collector, Agra dated 22-12-1981 and for a mandamus directing the respondent No. 1 not to grant approval in favour of respondent No. 2 on the basis of the reauction dated 23-11-1981. At the Bar another relief, which was vehemently pressed, was that the relevant authority be asked to execute a Patta in the petitioner's favour and the collector be ordered to grant approval to the same.