Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Orissa Olympic Associkation ... vs State Of Orissa on 24 March, 2015
Bench: Dipak Misra, Prafulla C. Pant
SLP(C) 34373/14
1
ITEM NO.8 COURT NO.5 SECTION XIA
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No.34373/2014
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 29/11/2014
in FA No. 158/2001 passed by the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack)
ORISSA OLYMPIC ASSOCIATION TH. Petitioner(s)
GEN. SECRETARY
VERSUS
STATE OF ORISSA AND ANR Respondent(s)
(With appln. (s) for permission to place addl. documents on record
and interim relief and office report)
Date : 24/03/2015 This petition was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DIPAK MISRA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAFULLA C. PANT
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Gopal Subramanium, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Raju Ramachandran, Sr. Adv.
Mr. B.H. Mohanty, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Dayanand Mahapatra, Adv.
Mr. Raghavendra S. Srivatsa, AOR
Mr. Rahat Bansal, Adv.
Mr. Garuav Khanna, Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Ashok Panigrahi, AOR
Mr. Santosh Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Ashmi Mohan, Adv.
Mr. Mohan Prasad Gupta, Adv.
Signature Not Verified
Mr. S.S. Rawat, Adv.
Digitally signed by
Chetan Kumar
Date: 2015.03.27
Mr. D.S. Mahra, Adv.
Mr. Sudhanshu Saran, Adv.
14:49:50 IST
Reason:
SLP(C) 34373/14
2
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
This Court on 22nd January, 2015, apart from dealing with various facets, has directed as follows:
“Presently, we shall advert to issue no.(v).
On a query being made, learned senior counsel, submitted that the suit was constituted in the year 1991 in respect of 0.7405 acres claiming right, title and interest and other reliefs and the income received from the property situated on that area is regularly audited by a statutory auditor. In our considered opinion, there has to be audit for the purpose of verification to shat we can eventually be satisfied. Considering the facts and circumstances in entirety, we direct that the accounts in respect of “Kalyan Mandap” and 23 shops standing on the disputed area (suit area 0.705 acres) be made by the Accountant General of Orissa at Bhubaneswar. The said exercise shall be completed within a period of six weeks. The report of the Accountant General shall be placed before this Court. The Registrar (Judicial) shall send a copy of the order passed today to the Accountant General of Orissa at Bhubaneswar by fax/e-mail and regular post forthwith so that he can take steps in promptitude.” In pursuance of the aforesaid order, the Accountant General of the State of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, has submitted his report in a sealed cover.
It is submitted by Mr. Gopal Subramanium, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner that he must be granted an opportunity to look at the report and file an objection duly certified by a competent authority, including an Auditor or a Chartered Accountant. Learned counsel appearing for the Accountant General, Odisha, undertakes to serve a copy of the report in course of the day. A copy of SLP(C) 34373/14 3 the report shall also be served on Mr. Ashok Panigrahi, learned counsel appearing for the State of Odisha.
At this juncture, another aspect need to be stated. We are inclined to say so, as it is submitted by Mr. Gopal Subramanium, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner that the report submitted by the Accountant General cannot be accepted on the face value and that is why, as stated earlier, he intends to file an objection to the same. But a pregnant one, there has to be finality to the audit. As advised at present, we may say, in case an occasion arises to test the report and the objection to be filed thereto, this Court may think of sending both the reports to The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, who shall scrutinize both the reports and, if required, by sending a team of auditors. We say no more on that score for the present. Only a thought expressed.
At this juncture, we will be failing on our duty if we do not take note of the stand quite vehemently put forth by Mr. Gopal Subramanium that the constructions are within the lease hold area and they have been constructed to raise funds. To deal with the said aspect, we would like the State to file the lease deed in original, as the petitioner has already filed the certified copy of the lease deed. How the same would be addressed to shall be thought of after there is delineation with regard to the accounts.
An ancillary question may arise as to whether a lessee, especially, Orissa Olympic Association, which is involved in pubic duty, can be engaged in this kind of activities on a mercurial or spacious ground of raising funds to sustain the stadium without the consent of the lessor. SLP(C) 34373/14 4 Let the objection to the report of the Accountant General be filed within two weeks hence. The State Government shall file an affidavit duly sworn by the competent authority giving the nature of shops and the photographs thereof and the photograph of the Kalyan Mandap. The said affidavit by the State shall be filed within two weeks from today.
Let the matter be listed on 21st April, 2015, for further hearing.
(Chetan Kumar) (H.S. Parashar)
Court Master Court Master