NEELAM KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE three matters are tied up matters which have been heard together and, therefore, are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) THE petitioner in C. W. J. C. No. 5948 of 1994 Neelam Kumar Sinha (hereinafter referred to as 'the petitioners') claims to be the Secretary of the Passengers Association having its office at Adampur Ghat in the district of Bhagalpur. He has filed the aforesaid writ petition as a public interest litigation, representing the cause of the passengers who are the beneficiary of the ferry service between Kahalgaon-Tintanga Ghat. He is aggrieved by the fact that the lessee has not provided adequate number of vessels in accordance with the lease deed for plying between the two Ghats, with the result that large number of passengers are forced to travel by country boats, exposing them to serious risk to life, particularly during the rainy season. M. J. C. No. 1289 of 1994 is an application filed by the petitioner for initiating action under the Contempt of Courts Act against the State of Bihar the District magistrate, Bhagalpur and the Regional Inspector General of Police, Bhagalpur, for not complying with the orders passed by this Court in C. W. J. C. No. 5948 of 1994. C. W. J. C. No. 2400 of 1995 is a writ petition filed by one Subodh Mandal, who is the lessee in question, and who has prayed for modification of the lease document. His case is that instead of a steamer with seating capacity of 200, the lease deed should be corrected to provide that a steamer with seating capacity of 100 persons only is to be provided by the lessee. The aforesaid subodh Manda! shall hereinafter be referred to as 'the lessee'.

(3.) UNDER Section 6 of the Bengal Ferries Act, 1885 the State Government has been vested with the power to declare what ferries shall be deemed public ferries and the respective districts in which, for the purpose of the Act, they shall be deemed to be situated. It has also power to establish new public ferries, define the limits of any public ferry, change its course and to discontinue any public ferry which it deems necessary. Under Section 7 of the Act the control of all public ferries are vested in the Magistrate of the district subject to the direction of the commissioner. Section 9 enable the Govt. to lease by auction ferry tolls. It provides that the tolls of any public ferry may, from time to time, be leased by public auction for such term as the Magistrate of the district in which such ferry is situated may, with the approval of the Commissioner, direct. The lessee of the tolls of every ferry which have been leased under this section are required to execute a contract setting forth the conditions of which the tolls of such ferry are to be held, and shall give security for its due fulfilment. Section 10 commands the leasee, and every servant of the lessee, to be bound to conform to rules made under the act for the management and control of such ferry. Section 16 of the Act provides that no person shall, except with the sanction of the magistrate of the district, maintain a ferry to or from any point within a distance to two miles from the limits of a public ferry. Power to reduce the said distance of two miles has been vested in the state Government. But the proviso makes it clear that this does not prevent persons keeping boats to ply between two places, one of which is without and one within the said limits, when the distance between two such places is not less than three miles