Gauhati High Court
Debananda Doley vs The State Of Assam And 4 Ors on 1 April, 2022
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
Page No.# 1/7
GAHC010233192018
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : WP(C)/7337/2018
DEBANANDA DOLEY
S/O LATE KETONG DOLEY
VILL- KULAPATHAR
P.O. ARADHAL
DIST.DHEMAJI, ASSAM
PIN - 787057.
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 4 ORS.
REP. BY THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY, TO THE GOVT. OF ASSAM,
AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT, DISPUR, GUWAHATI-6.
2:THE DIRECTOR
GOVT. OF ASSAM
AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT
KHANAPARA
KAMRUP (M)
GUWAHATI-22.
3:THE CHIEF ENGINEER
AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT
GOVT. OF ASSAM
KHANAPARA
KAMRUP (M)
GUWAHATI-22.
4:THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (AGRICULTURE)
Page No.# 2/7
DHEMAJI DIVISION
DHEMAJI
ASSAM.
5:THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY
GOVT. OF ASSAM
FINANCE DEPARTMENT
DISPUR
GUWAHATI-6
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. L GOGOI
Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
ORDER
Date :01.04.2022 Heard Mr. L. Gogoi, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. B. Choudhury, learned Standing Counsel, Agriculture Department for the respondent nos. 1 - 4; and Mr. R. Borpujari, learned Standing Counsel, Finance Department for the respondent no. 5.
2. The case of the petitioner is that he as a registered Class-I Contractor under the respondent Agriculture Department, had completed a number of contract-works to the satisfaction of the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department. Amongst those contract-works the petitioner had executed with the respondent Agriculture Department, 4 [four] nos. of contract-works are as follows :-
[i] Construction of covered Threshing Floor at 2 no. Srirampuria in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 [ii] Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Kathalguri Hanchara in Dhemaji Page No.# 3/7 District under BGREL 2012-2013 [iii] Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Bolaipam in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 [iv] Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Gholipara in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 2.1. It is the further case of the petitioner is that he completed the afore-stated 4 [four] nos. of contract-works to the satisfaction of the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department and submitted his final bills in respect of those 4 [four] nos. of contract-works. The respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department had paid the final bill amounts in respect of the 4 [four] contract-works to the petitioner but the security deposit amounts in respect of the said 4 [four] nos. of contract-works have been retained at their end and the same have not been released till date. The security deposit amounts for the 4 [four] nos. of contract-works are to the following effect :-
Sl. No. Name of contract-work Amount i. Construction of covered Threshing Floor at 2 Rs. 88,380/- 3. Mr. No. Srirampuria in Dhemaji District under Choudhury, learned BGREL 2012-2013 Standing Counsel, ii. Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Rs. 78,684/-
Kathalguri Hanchara in Dhemaji District under Agriculture BGREL 2012-2013 Department has submitted, on iii. Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Rs. 1,01,650/-
Bolaipam in Dhemaji District under BGREL instruction, that the
2012-2013 amounts as regards
iv. Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Rs. 92,876/-
the security deposit
Gholipara in Dhemaji District under BGREL
2012-2013 of the petitioner
have been included
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01.04.2022
Heard Mr. L. Gogoi, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. B. Choudhury, learned Standing Counsel, Agriculture Department for the respondent nos. 1 - 4; and Mr. R. Borpujari, learned Standing Counsel, Finance Department for the respondent no. 5.
2. The case of the petitioner is that he as a registered Class-I Contractor under the respondent Agriculture Department, had completed a number of contract-works to the satisfaction of the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department. Amongst those contract-works the petitioner had executed with the respondent Agriculture Department, 4 [four] nos. of contract-works are as follows :-
[i] Construction of covered Threshing Floor at 2 no. Srirampuria in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 [ii] Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Kathalguri Hanchara in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 [iii] Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Bolaipam in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 [iv] Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Gholipara in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 2.1. It is the further case of the petitioner is that he completed the afore-stated 4 [four] nos. of contract-works to the satisfaction of the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department and submitted his final bills in respect of those 4 [four] nos. of contract-works. The respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department had paid the final bill amounts in respect of the 4 [four] contract-works to the petitioner but the security deposit amounts in respect of the said 4 [four] nos. of contract-works have been retained at their end and the same have not been released till date. The security deposit amounts for the 4 [four] nos. of contract-works are to the following effect :-
Page No.# 5/7 Sl. No. Name of contract-work Amount i. Construction of covered Threshing Floor at 2 Rs. 88,380/-
No. Srirampuria in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 ii. Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Rs. 78,684/-
Kathalguri Hanchara in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 iii. Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Rs. 1,01,650/-
Bolaipam in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013 iv. Construction of covered Threshing Floor at Rs. 92,876/-
Gholipara in Dhemaji District under BGREL 2012-2013
3 Mr. Choudhury, learned Standing Counsel, Agriculture Department has submitted, on instruction, that the amounts as regards the security deposit of the petitioner have been included in the supplementary demand for the financial year : 2022-2023 as there is paucity of found and the same would be released as and when the fund in respect of the supplementary demand is received from the Government. He has, therefore, submitted that this writ petition can be disposed of with a direction to the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department to release the security deposit amounts which have not yet been released by the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department as and when the fund is received from the Government.
4. Mr. Gogoi, learned counsel for the petitioner has no objection to the above submission of Mr. Choudhury, learned Standing Counsel, Agriculture Department.
5. Having considered the respective submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, this Court is of the considered view that instead of keeping this writ petition pending, the same can be disposed of, at this stage itself, having regard to the submissions made by the learned counsel for the Agriculture Department. Accordingly, this writ petition is disposed of with the direction to the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department to release the amounts as regards security deposits of the petitioner retained by them in respect of the Page No.# 6/7 4 [four] nos. of contract-works, indicated above, as soon as the fund is received against the supplementary demand already submitted by them to the Government, preferably within a period of 4 [four] months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order by the petitioner. The petitioner shall submit a copy of this order to the office of the respondent no. 2 i.e. the Director, Agriculture Department, Assam.
in the supplementary demand for the financial year : 2022-2023 as there is paucity of found and the same would be released as and when the fund in respect of the supplementary demand is received from the Government. He has, therefore, submitted that this writ petition can be disposed of with a direction to the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department to release the security deposit amounts which have not yet been released by the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department as and when the fund is received from the Government.
4. Mr. Gogoi, learned counsel for the petitioner has no objection to the above submission of Mr. Choudhury, learned Standing Counsel, Agriculture Department.
5. Having considered the respective submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, this Court is of the considered view that instead of keeping this writ petition pending, the same can be disposed of, at this stage itself, having regard to the submissions made by the learned counsel for the Agriculture Department. Accordingly, this writ petition is disposed of with the direction to the respondent authorities in the Agriculture Department to release the amounts as regards security deposits of the petitioner retained by them in respect of the 4 [four] nos. of contract-works, indicated above, as soon as the fund is received against the supplementary demand already submitted by them to the Government, preferably within a period of 4 [four] months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order by the petitioner. The petitioner shall submit a copy of this order to the office of the respondent no. 2 i.e. the Director, Agriculture Department, Assam.
Page No.# 7/7 JUDGE Comparing Assistant