Gauhati High Court
Nitin Agarwalla vs The State Of Assam And 4 Ors on 10 January, 2022
Author: Devashis Baruah
Bench: Devashis Baruah
Page No.# 1/3
GAHC010125192015
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : WP(C)/7612/2015
NITIN AGARWALLA
S/O SRI BAJRANG LAL AGARWALLA R/O SARUPATHAR TOWN P.O. and P.S.
SARUPATHAR DIST. GOLAGHAT, ASSAM.
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 4 ORS
REP. BY THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TOT HE GOVT. OF ASSAM,
PUBLIC WORKS ROADS DEPARTMENT, DISPUR, GUWAHATI-6.
2:THE CHIEF ENGINEER
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT ROADS
ASSAM
CHANDMARI
GUWAHATI -3.
3:THE EMPOWERED OFFICER
ASRB I/C PMGSY WORKS
ASSAM CHANDMARI
GUWAHATI-3.
4:THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER
PWD
JORHAT ROAD CIRCLE
JORHAT.
5:THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER
PWD
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SARUPATHAR RURAL ROAD
DIVISION
GOLAGHAT
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. D P BORAH
Advocate for the Respondent : 0
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH
ORDER
Date : 10.01.2022 Heard Mr. D.P. Borah, the learned counsel for the Petitioner, Ms. S. Sarma, learned Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondents.
2. This is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India challenging the actions of the Respondent authorities in not making the payment of Rs. 5,00,000/- to the petitioner in spite of the fact that the Respondent authorities have duly admitted the dues of the petitioner.
3. The brief facts of the instant case is that the Respondent No. 2 issued a letter dated 22/02/2013 with copies to the Respondent No. 4 & 5 in ter alia communicating that in view of non-availability of the departmental vehicles to some PIUs and HPIUs, it has been decided to allow hire of the vehicles by the PWD officers in the rank of Executive and Superintending Engineer, who have no official vehicle at running condition, solely for first tier quality monitoring, supervision & monitoring of PMGSY works. Accordingly, the Executive Engineer was allowed to hire Tata Indica for a period of 25 days in a month @ Rs. 1,000/- per day. In terms with the said letter dated 22/2/2013 the Respondent No. 5 issued a work order dated 1/3/2013 to the petitioner asking him to provide one new Indica car along with a driver immediately on the terms and conditions stipulated therein. Accordingly, the petitioner with effect from 1/3/2013 supplied one new vehicle (Tata Indica Vista) at the disposal of the Respondent No. 5. Thereafter the vehicle of the Page No.# 3/3 petitioner i.e. the Tata Indica Vista was used by the concerned Respondent authorities and consequently an amount of Rs. 5 lakh was outstanding. The petitioner had represented before the respondent authorities on various occasions but the Respondent authorities have not made the payment. In this regard Mr. B.P. Borah the learned counsel for the petitioner draws the attention of this Court to the Annexure-6 wherein the Executive Engineer, PWD, Sarupathar, Rural Road Division had duly certified that an amount of Rs. 5 lakh is pending to be paid to the petitioner for the months from December, 2013 to July 2015. In view of the facts that in spite of various reminders and representations the payments have not been made, the petitioner has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
4. The Respondent authorities even after receipt of notice on 17/12/2015 and now we are in the year 2022, have not filed any affidavit-in-opposition contradicting the stand of the petitioner. Consequently, as the Respondent authorities have not denied to the entitlement of the petitioner, this Court is of the opinion that it would be in the interest of justice, that a writ be issued to the respondent authorities to make a verification of the outstanding dues of the petitioner and upon verification if it is found that the petitioner is entitled to the said amount or any part thereof, the verified amount shall be paid to the petitioner within a period of 2 (two) months from the date a certified copy of the instant order is served upon the Respondent No. 2.
5. In view of the above directions, the instant Writ Petition stands disposed of.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant