Jharkhand High Court
Ishwari Mahto vs The State Jharkhand & Ors on 11 October, 2022
Author: Kailash Prasad Deo
Bench: Kailash Prasad Deo
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
(Civil Writ Jurisdiction)
WP(C) No. 178 of 2020
Ishwari Mahto ..... ...... Petitioner
Versus
The State Jharkhand & Ors. .... .... Respondents
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CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KAILASH PRASAD DEO
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For the Petitioner : Mr. Rajeev Ranjan Tiwary, Advocate Mr. Ranjit Kumar Tiwary, Advocate For the Respondents/State : Mr. Ashok Kumar Yadav, Sr. S.C-I
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th Order No.08 /Dated: 11 October, 2022 Heard, learned counsel for the petitioner Mr. Rajeev Ranjan Tiwary assisted by Mr. Ranjit Kumar Tiwary. The petitioner has preferred this writ petition on 16.01.2020 for a direction upon the respondent to pay amount of Rs.20,89,701/- on account of work done by the petitioner for construction of Mini Rural Pipe Water Supply Scheme, at Village-Nagwa in Panchayat- Tonatand and also the amount incurred by the petitioner in operation & maintenance, as the same work was allotted to the petitioner and the petitioner has completed the same to the satisfaction of all concerned and submitted his bills, however, the same has not been paid.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that on seeing tender for construction of Mini Rural Pipe Water Supply Scheme, created by CRF with Solar Partition and the same to be constructed at Village:- Nagwa in Panchayat- Tonatand, District-Chatra, petitioner participated in tender and the same was allotted to the petitioner vide order dated 16.02.2015. The petitioner has commenced the work which has to be completed within a period of six months. Petitioner has completed the said work and the measurement of the work was taken by the Junior Engineer duly approved by the Executive Engineer, who has passed the said Measurement Book and accordingly the said Measurement Book was approved and the direction was issued for payment of Rs.20,89,701/- as per the Measurement Book but till date payment has not been made.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has further submitted, that the counter-affidavit duly sworn by Mr. Avik Ambala, Son of Ramchandra Agarwal, Executive Engineer has been filed on 08.08.2022, whereby at paragraphs-8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 stand has been taken, which is profitably quoted hereunder:-
8...That, Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, Jharkhand has sanctioned for construction of Mini Rural Pipe Water Supply Scheme -2- under NRDWP of Central Relief Fund (CRF), Government of India vide memo no.105 dated 26.10.2013.
9...That, the answering deponent has floated tender vide PR No.118495 (is;ty) dated 12.01.2014 for construction of Mini Rural Pipe Water Supply Scheme under NRDWP of Central Relief Fund (CRF), Government of India with solar partition and the same to be constructed at Village Nagwa in panchayat Tonatand.
10...That, in pursuant to aforesaid request for proposal, the petitioner has participated in tender and duly selected for construction of Mini Rural Pipe Water Supply Scheme under NRDWP of Central Relief Fund (CRF) at Nagwa panchayat Tonatand.
11...That, thereafter work order has been issued vide memo no.134 dated 16.02.2015 to the petitioner and an agreement was executed between the Executive Engineer and the petitioner being F265 of 14-15 dated 26.02.2015 of an amount of Rs.24,46,338/-.
12...That, it is also stated and submitted that the period of work completion was fixed for six months from the issuance of work order. As per clause-2 of work order, the petitioner has to constructed the said water supply system within a period of six months from the date of issuance of work order and further maintained and operate the same for at least a period of one year but here the petitioner had not completed the work within the prescribed period of work order.
13...That, non-initiation of work by the petitioner and other contractor, Executive Engineer, Drinking Water and Sanitation Division, Chatra has issued a letter no.1371 dated 19.11.2015 regarding completion of Rural Water Pipe Line Scheme. The said letter specially directed to complete remaining work in the next 15 days of the scheme and started the water supply, otherwise after 15 days if the scheme remains incomplete, action will be taken to blacklist. Also, the work done by you will not be paid on account of un-useful expenditure.
14...That, the petitioner has not completed the work and ignored the earlier order dated 19.11.2015(Annexure-5), therefore the Executive Engineer, Drinking Water and Sanitation Division, Chatra issued notice vide memo no.105 dated 01.02.2016 to the petitioner and directed to complete the work within 15 days from issuance of this notice, why the agreement will not be closed and taken action against your blacklisting.
15...That, Executive Engineer, Drinking Water and Sanitation Division, Chatra has send reminder letter no.581 dated 03.05.2016, letter no.801 dated 25.06.2016 and last reminder vide letter no.1147 dated 03.10.2016 to the petitioner regarding completion of work.-3-
Learned counsel for the respondent/State, Mr. Ashok Kumar Yadav, Sr. S.C-I, has submitted that in supplementary counter-affidavit filed by one Mr. Sanjay Kumar Jha, son of Mr. Krishna Chandra Jha, Chief Engineer, PMU, Drinking Water & Sanitation Department, Jharkhand stand has been taken at paragraph-5 that scheme for construction of the Mini Rural Pipe Water Supply under NRDWP of Central Relief Fund, Government of India was sanctioned vide memo no.105 dated 26.10.2013.
In view of said sanctioned order, after due process work order was issued by Superintending Engineer, Drinking Water and Sanitation Circle, Hazaribagh on 16.02.2015 and the period for work completion was fixed for 6 months from the issuance of work order. Vide letter no.7 dated 28.05.2015, the Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation Department has directed to all Executive Engineers regarding stoppage of work due to non-completion of work and slow progress of work. The said letter specifically mentioned that in cases where work could not be completed due to non-completion/initiation and slow progress of work, the assigned work may be stopped or may not be allowed to proceed. The payment/ further progress of work under the scheme was closed vide letter no.7 dated 28.05.2015 with a condition that if the work allotted has not been started then it should not be started till further direction.
The then, Executive Engineer, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Division Chatra has disobeyed the order of department and asked fresh for payment of the petitioner. Due to said act of omission or commission on the part of the Executive Engineer, Chief Engineer-cum-Executive Director, programme management unit Jharkhand, Ranchi has written a letter to the Secretary, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Department Government of Jharkhand for taking a disciplinary action against the then Executive Engineers Mithilesh Singh and Ashutosh Kumar Singh vide latter no.1754 dated 17.08.2022, as such, the payment has not been made.
This Court is surprised to see such counter-affidavit and stand taken by the State. If the tender work has been initiated in the year 2015 for a six months what prompted the State not to take action in year 2015 or 2016. It only appears that when the writ petition is filed before the Hon'ble Court, State initiated departmental proceeding against some of the officers to protect themselves from the coercive order of the Hon'ble High Court.
Under the aforesaid circumstances, the Chief Secretary, Government -4- of Jharkhand is directed to file affidavit in person that why a proceeding was not initiated in the year 2016 for violation of the order passed by the Government ? Why the Principal Secretary Drinking Water & Sanitation Department should not to be considered a lethargic and inefficient person who has no control over his department ? The Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand must file affidavit within a period of four weeks in person.
Put up this case on 10.11.2022 under the same heading. Let a copy of this order be communicated to the Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand at once.
(Kailash Prasad Deo, J.) R.S/Rohit/-