State Of Assam & Ors vs Susrita Holdings Pvt.Ltd

4. The Government of Assam issued instructions in respect of alienation of tea garden land from time to time, particularly, letter no. RSS 573/94/25 dated 26.3.2001 of the Government of Assam, Revenue (Settlement) Department requiring prior approval of the Government.

5. On 30.10.2006, following the dissolution of Cachar Tea Farming and Industrial Cooperative Society, the Cachar Ex- Officio liquidator, Cachar Tea Farming and Industrial Cooperaive Society Ltd, (in short the ‘Liquidator’), issued a notice inviting tenders for the sale of Chincoorie Tea Estate owned by Cachar Tea Farming and Industrial Cooperative Society Ltd. The concerned tea estate measured 9951 bighas.

6. As on 5.1.2007, no tender had been cast in response to the tender notice issued. Therefore, a fresh tender notice dated 5.1.2007, was issued by the liquidator with minor modifications made on the previous tender notice. The land mentioned in the modified notice admeasured 9000 bighas. The last date for submission of tenders was fixed at 29.1.2007 which was further extended to 26.2.2007 upto 2 p.m. by another modified tender notice dated 28.1.2007.

10. The respondent thereafter, filed a Writ Petition (C)No. 1928/2007 before the Guwahati High Court after the tender process had been cancelled vide Order dated 21.4.2007. In the Writ Petition, the respondent sought directions for the Official respondents therein to issue final Order of award in favour of the respondent herein. The respondent further sought restrain order from cancelling the tender process and initiation of fresh tender process. The High Court, vide Order dated 27.4.2007, restrained the Official respondents therein from initiating fresh process for the disposal of the land involved. The Order further clarified that it shall not be a bar to issue Order in favour of the respondent herein.

11. The Liquidator, on 9.5.2007, issued notice in a local daily- The Assam Tribune, declaring that the tender process had been cancelled vide Order dated 21.4.2007. The respondent thereafter, filed another Writ Petition (C) No. 2416/2007 before the Guwahati High Court impugning the notice dated 9.5.2007. The High Court, vide Order dated 23.5.2007, issued notice and directed that the notice dated 9.5.2007 shall not be given effect till the returnable date.

12. The Respondent next filed a Writ Petition (C) No. 2971/2007 challenging the cancellation Order by the liquidator dated 21.4.2007. In the meantime, the Joint Registrar of the Co-operative Societies forwarded a report to the Registrar of the Co-operative Societies by issuing letter to him.

15. The Deputy Registrar issued an award letter dated 27.8.2009 and thereafter, signed the agreement for sale of the tea garden land on 2.9.2009 and sent a draft copy of the Deed of Agreement for the sale of the land in question. The respondent was required to make an initial deposition of 25% of the total bid initially within a week of issuance thereof, as per the terms laid in Clause 3 of the Deed of Agreement. The remaining 75% of the total consideration amount was required to be paid by the respondent at the time of execution of the sale deed, subject however, to the withdrawal of W.P. (C) No. 1928/2007 by the respondent. The Writ Petition was closed subsequently since it was not pursued.

16. The sub-Registrar (Registration), Silchar was approached by the liquidator on 9.12.2009 for registration of the sale deed. The sub- Registrar asked the liquidator to produce permission/approval from the Revenue Department for registration of the sale deed. The liquidator on 10.12.2009, wrote to the Registrar of the Co-operative Societies seeking instruction on the same. The Liquidator however, could not produce the government permission for execution of the sale deed in respect of the land in question. Therefore, the sale deed could not be executed in favour of the respondent.

19. The said order was forwarded to the higher authority. However, the sale deed did not get registered subsequently which was followed by a Contempt Case No. 443/2010 initiated by the respondent.

21. The Review Petition No. 112/2010 filed by the appellant was dismissed by the High Court on 2.2.2011.

29. It is an undisputed fact that in the present times consideration of Rs.1.11 crores for 9000 bighas of land does not reflect the correct market value prevalent at the relevant point of time and not even to the civil valuer’s report without either factual or legal basis. As per the report of the Joint Registrar of Co-operative Societies dated 31.02.2006, the updated registered value of the concerned tea garden stands at Rs.4,24,72,124/- as opined by Sri. M.P. Gindora, Tea Consultant and Registered Valuer. This report however, carried a qualifier along with it. It is stated in the report on the assumption that it is hardly expected that any party will come forward to purchase an existing tea garden with huge encroachment. As per the facts put on record, the total area of the estate is 1247.29 Hectares out of which 70% is encroached. However, this alone cannot be a ground for the Joint Registrar of Co-operative Societies to opine that it would not fetch the value of the property as indicated by the valuer in the report. Therefore, there was no justification for the appellants to sell the property at an extremely low price without any effort of issuing eviction notice to the alleged encroachers to evict them by following the due process of law. There will not be any impediment for the appellants to evict trespassers from the land in question without considering the above relevant aspects of the case. The High Court granted the relief in favour of the respondent in its writ petition by quashing the order of cancelling the tender process by the officer of the appellant No. 1 and further directing the appellants to execute the sale deed accepting the offer of the respondent.

23. The High Court opined that the time lag between 2.2.2011 and 22.11.2011 has not at all been convincingly explained by the appellants. Though the State is in shackle by unavoidable official formalities to streamline its decision, however, the explanation offered by the appellants towards justification of the delay in filing the appeal is insufficient and it has dismissed the condonation of delay application and consequently dismissed the writ appeal.

33. Hence, we hold that the tender process initiated by the appellants is not legal and is liable to be set aside. We direct the concerned authority to issue fresh notice of tender for selling the land. The notice shall be made available in government websites and other local and national newspapers so as to encourage and invite more bidders. In the meanwhile, the authority shall take all necessary steps to improve and restore the condition of the land so as to make the purchase of the land free from legal encumbrances.

35. Accordingly, we set aside the order dated 2.2.2012 passed by the High Court of Guwahati in M.C. No.5 of 2012 in Writ Appeal Sl. No.168339 of 2011 after condoning the delay and consequently we allow the writ appeal by allowing this Civil Appeal.