'Devious Mechanism': Allahabad High Court Flags Pattern Of Pond Auctions Sans Possession, Seeks Statewide Report From Fisheries Dept

A Bench of Justice Shekhar B. Saraf and Justice Prashant Kumar passed the order while hearing a writ petition seeking a mandamus directing the authorities to execute a lease deed for a pond in Sitapur, which was auctioned in November last year.

The petitioner stated that despite winning the auction for the pond situated in a Village in Sitapur district, the State authorities neither executed the lease deed nor handed over possession to him.

The Court noted that it has come across several matters of this nature, which reveal a consistent pattern, as in the present case, where, despite an auction being held, the possession of the pond was not given to the petitioner, and even the lease deed was not issued.

The Bench further recorded another recurring scenario: when writ petitions are filed, lawyers for the Fisheries Department inform the Court that the tender has been cancelled, but they are unable to indicate whether such information of cancellation was ever communicated to the bidders.

Calling this system 'devious' in nature, the Court remarked thus:

"…it clearly appears that this entire action of not giving the ponds to the different people for carrying out fisheries is causing a huge loss to the public exchequer, wherein unknown people continue to carry out fishing activities illegally".

The Court remarked that, even though similar concerns had been raised in earlier pleas as well, the Fisheries Department had not taken any steps to remedy the situation.

Thus, the Bench ordered the Director, Department of Fisheries, Uttar Pradesh, to file a detailed statewide report specifying the following:

1. The number of ponds available with the State of U.P., which are normally given on lease for fishing activities.

2. The number of auctions that have been carried out and the reasons for the cancellation of the said auctions.

3. The number of ponds in which presently there is a subsisting lease granted to different individuals and

4. The number of ponds, in which no auction has been carried out and or no lease granted to a private person for carrying out fishing activities

The Court has granted two weeks for the submission of this report and listed the matter for 3 December 2025.