GANESH BHANDAR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ petition the petitioners challenge the mode and manner in which sugar manufactured by the Sugar Mills of the Sugar Corporation is being disposed of by public auction. According to the writ petitioners, the mode and and manner of publication of the acution and the consequent auction is such that majority of the intending purchasers are excluded from participating in the auction. The challenge in this writ petition is with regard to the date of auction fixed for the month of October 1988. It has been brought to our notice that even though the auction was to be held on 1st and 4th October, 1988 the advertisement in Hindustan has been published on 4th October, 1988 itself. The intended inspection which is envisaged by the advertisement is impossible of compliance because of those dates having expired on the date of publication of the advertisement.

(2.) Mr. P. K. Sahi for the Corporation stated that there has been a publication in Amrit-Barsa, a local newspaper, on 29th September, 1988. Therefore, it was not correct that the intending buyers had no opportunity to participate in the auction. He also submitted that as a matter of fact in the sales of 1st and 4th October, 1988, the Corporation has received much more price than in the earlier years. Therefore, the auction held on 1st and 4th October, 1988, has not occasioned any loss to the Corporation.

(3.) Fifty per cent of the sugar manufactured by these Mills are taken on levy by the Government and the responsibility of distribution and sale is of the Government and the rest fifty per cent of the sugar is known as free sale sugar The Corporation has to obtain an order of release from the Directorate of Sugar, Government of India, for its release in every month and after the release order is received by the Corporation, it is said that the sales are affected. According to Mr. Sahi at times there being late release of the Directorate's instruction result in such a situation where the direction of the Directorate for the sale of sugar in the first week did not have enough time and/or margin between the advertisement and the date of sale. We are of the opinion that the State must have the highest return of the goods manufactured by its Undertakings and there should be an ahead publication of the date of sales in order to attract the traders from all over India to participate in the auction. It may be true that the Corporation has received higher price in the auction held on 1st and 4th October, 1988 but it is just possible that had there been a proper publication of the advertisement, the Corporation might have still higher price. The act of Government instrumentality must not only be fair but it also must appear to be fair. The publication of the advertisement in Amrit-Barsa which appear to have some local circulation is onlya formal compliance of publication of the auction and cannot be held to be a proper publication of the advertisement in order to attract buyers from the different regions of the country. The publication of advertisement, therefore, must be in the papers of All India circultation, both in Hindi and English and there must be a margin of at least one week between the date of advertisement and the date of auction. We are so saying because according to the learned counsel for the Corporation, the late receipt of the instruction from the Directorate requiring the sale of sugar in the first week does not at times provide sufficient margin for advertisement and the date of sale of the sugar. The court will, however, desire that there must be two weeks margin between the date of advertisement and the date of auction, but in no case less than one week. It is said that advertisements are routed through Public Relation Department and it is Public Relation Department which publishes the advertisement and the delay at times is caused because of this mode of publication. Learned Counsel for the Corporation submits that the advertisement was sent to Public Relation Department much before, but it was because of the latches on the part of the Public Relation Department that the advertisement was published after the date of auction for which they cannot be held responsible. Having given our thought over this aspect of the matter, in order to avoid delay in the publication of the advertisement and to comply with our direction with regard to the gap between the advertisement and the date of auction, the Corporation if it finds that Public Relation Department has not published the advertisement a week before, it shall be at liberty to publish the advertisement from their own end in two reputed newspapers one in Hindi and one in English with wide circulation throughout India. If any newspaper has different establishments in different parts of India, that newspaper should be preferred, so that on one and the same day the matter is published and flashed in all parts of India.