Chattisgarh High Court
M/S R.K. Enterprises vs Chhattisgarh Medical Services ... on 19 August, 2025
Author: Ramesh Sinha
Bench: Ramesh Sinha
1
2025:CGHC:41688-DB
Digitally
signed by
SHOAIB
SHOAIB ANWAR
ANWAR Date:
2025.08.19
18:14:14
+0530
NAFR
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
WPC No. 4400 of 2025
1 - M/s R.K. Enterprises Through Partner Ravi Singh S/o Late Uday
Pratap Singh, Aged 37 Years, Address - House No. 480, Kasaridih,
Kanahiyapuri, Durg Chhattisgarh
... Petitioner(s)
versus
1 - Chhattisgarh Medical Services Corporation Ltd. Durg Division
D307, 2nd Floor Cg Housing Board Complex Raipur Naka Durg
Chhattisgarh
2 - Executive Engineer Chhattisgarh Medical Service Corporation Ltd
Durg Chhattisgarh
3 - Managing Director Chhattisgarh Medical Service Corporation Ltd
Durg Chhattisgarh
4 - Superintending Engineer Chhattisgarh Medical Service
Corporation Ltd Durg Chhattisgarh
... Respondent(s)
2
(Cause title taken from CIS) For Petitioner(s) : Shri Awadh Tripathi, Advocate For Respective : Shri Raghvendra Pradhan, Advocate Respondents Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Bibhu Datta Guru, Judge Judgment on Board Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice 19/08/2025
1. Heard Shri Awadh Tripathi, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Shri Raghvendra Pradhan, learned counsel for the respective respondents.
2. The present writ petition has been filled for following reliefs:-
"10.1 That, the Hon'ble Court may kindly allow the petition and direct the Respondent to pay the remaining amount that is Rs. 69,44,399/- in addition to 18% interest from the completion of work to till today in the interest of justice and direct the respondent to pass appropriate order in the interest of justice. 10.2. That the Hon'ble Court may kindly direct the Respondent to decide the pending representations filed by the petitioner within the stipulated period of time in accordance with law.3
10.3. Any other relief which deemed fit and proper may also be issued looking to the facts and circumstances of the case and looking to the interest of the petitioner"
3. (A) Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner entered into the agreement with the respondent through the tender for construction of various types of work in different places of Block Durg i/c Internal water supply sanitary fitting electrification work etc. at District Durg for Rs. 1,00,00,000/- (Rupees One Crore Only) through work order/agreement no. 623 dated 31.12.2022. He would submit that the Respondent through multiple work order comes to the agreement with the Petitioner for the construction of multiple work sites in Durg District for the amount of Rs 1,00,00,000/- (One Crore only) by which the Respondent Sanctioned Rs. 1,00,00,000/- (Rupees One Crore Only) at 0.17 percent below on the following schedule rates.
(b) According to learned counsel for the petitioner respondent paid the amount of Rs. 2,81,592/- of bill dated 19.05.2023 through cheque no. 000027, Rs. 7,62,350/- of bill dated 09.11.2023 through cheque no. 000081, Rs. 3,22,130/ of bill dated 09.11.2023 through cheque no. 000080, Rs. 2,97,269/ of 4 bill dated 19.05.2023 through cheque no. 000026, Rs. 4,61,442/- of bill dated 19.10.2023 through cheque no. 000134, Rs. 4,99,941/- of bill dated 23.02.2024 through cheque no. 000232 which makes it total of Rs. 26,24,724/- (Twenty Six Lakhs Twenty Four Thousand Seven Hundred Twenty Four). He further submits that Respondent with the malafide intention did not pay the amount of bill which is more than 10 Lakhs Rupees such as bill dated 19/06/2025 of amount Rs. 14,12,581, bill dated 19.06.2025 of amount Rs. 16,29,921, bill dated 19.06.2025 of amount Rs. 20,42,943, bill dated 19.06.2025 of amount of Rs. 18,58,954 which makes the total of Rs. 69,44,399/- (Sixty Nine Lakhs Forty Four Thousand Three Hundred Rupee).
(c) According to learned counsel for the petitioner as per the Mission Director of the National Health Mission Chhattisgarh through letter dated 04.01.2023 amount of the aforesaid tender is already issued to the Respondent but the respondent with the malafide intention did not pay the full amount of the agreement. He would submit that Petitioner also submitted multiple representations to. the respondent stating his grievances to which Executive Engineer of 5 C.G.M.S.C. Ltd after submitting 3 representations sent the letter to Superintending Engineer of C.G.M.S.C. Ltd regarding the grievances of the Petitioner through letter dated 07.07.2025 against which there is no response given by the Superintending Engineer of C.G.M.S.C. Ltd.
4. On the other hand, learned respondents counsel oppose the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner and submits that the writ petition as framed and filed is not maintainable as the disputed question of facts cannot be adjudicated in writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
5. We have learned counsel for the parties, perused the impugned order and other documents appended with writ petition.
6. It is settled law that the High Court should not exercise its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India when it raises disputed question of facts.
7. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Chairman, Grid Corpornation of Orissa Ltd. (GRIDCO) and others v. Sukamani Das (Smt.) and another, (1999) 7 SCC 298 was dealing with the question of whether the High Court had 6 made an error in entertaining a writ petition filed seeking compensation for the death of a person due to electrocution, which had allegedly been caused due to the negligence of the authorities. The Supreme Court in the said case observed as under:
"6. In our opinion, the High Court committed an error in entertaining the writ petitions even though they were not fit cases for exercising power under Article 226 of the Constitution. The High Court went wrong in proceeding on the basis that as the deaths had taken place because of electrocution as a result of the deceased coming into contact with snapped live wires of the electric transmission lines of the appellants, that "admittedly/prima facie amounted to negligence on the part of the appellants". The High Court failed to appreciate that all these cases were actions in tort and negligence was required to be established firstly by the claimants. The mere fact that the wire of the electric transmission line belonging to Appellant 1 had snapped and the deceased had come in contact with it and had died was not by itself sufficient for awarding compensation. It also required to be examined whether the wire had snapped as a result of any 7 negligence of the appellants and under which circumstances the deceased had come in contact with the wire. In view of the specific defences raised by the appellants in each of these cases they deserved an opportunity to prove that proper care and precautions were taken in maintaining the transmission lines and yet the wires had snapped because of circumstances beyond their control or unauthorised intervention of third parties or that the deceased had not died in the manner stated by the petitioners. These questions could not have been decided properly on the basis of affidavits only. It is the settled legal position that where disputed questions of facts are involved a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution is not a proper remedy. The High Court has not and could not have held that the disputes in these cases were raised for the sake of raising them and that there was no substance therein. The High Court should have directed the writ petitioners to approach the civil court as it was done in OJC No. 5229 of 1995."
(emphasis supplied) 8
8. The aforesaid judgment has been relied/ reiterated by the Supreme Court in S.P.S. Rathore v. State of Haryana and others, (2005) 10 SCC 1 wherein it observed as follows:
"16. In Chairman, Grid Corpn. of Orissa Ltd. (Gridco) v. Sukamani Das [(1999) 7 SCC 298] the question which arose for consideration was, can the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution award compensation for death caused due to electrocution on account of negligence, when the liability was emphatically denied on the ground that the death had not occurred as a result of negligence, but because of an act of God or of acts of some other persons. The Court held that it is the settled legal position that where disputed questions of facts are involved, a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution is not a proper remedy. Therefore, questions as to whether death occurred due to negligence or due to act of God or of some third person could not be decided properly on the basis of affidavits only, but should be decided by the civil court after appreciating the evidence adduced by the parties. In T.N. Electricity Board v. Sumathi [(2000) 4 SCC 543] it was held that when a disputed question of fact arises and there is clear denial of any tortious liability, remedy 9 under Article 226 of the Constitution may not be proper. The Court carved out exception to this general rule by observing that, it should not be understood that in every case of tortious liability, recourse must be had to a suit. When there is negligence on the face of it and infringement of Article 21 is there, it cannot be said that there will be any bar to proceed under Article 226 of the Constitution." (emphasis supplied)
9. Similarly, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Shubhas Jain v. Rajeshwari Shivam, 2021 SCC OnLine SC 562 has held as under:
"26. It is well settled that the High Court exercising its extraordinary writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, does not adjudicate hotly disputed questions of facts. It is not for the High Court to make a comparative assessment of conflicting technical reports and decide which one is acceptable."
10. Subsequently, in Union of India Vs. Puna Hinda, (2021) 10 SCC 690, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has observed:
"24. Therefore, the dispute could not be raised by way of a writ petition on the disputed questions of fact. Though, the jurisdiction of the High Court is wide but in respect of pure 10 contractual matters in the field of private law, having no statutory flavour, are better adjudicated upon by the forum agreed to by the parties. The dispute as to whether the amount is payable or not and/or how much amount is payable are disputed questions of facts. There is no admission on the part of the appellants to infer that the amount stands crystallised. Therefore, in the absence of any acceptance of joint survey report by the competent authority, no right would accrue to the writ petitioner only because measurements cannot be undertaken after passage of time. Maybe, the resurvey cannot take place but the measurement books of the work executed from time to time would form a reasonable basis for assessing the amount due and payable to the writ petitioner, but such process could be undertaken only by the agreed forum i.e. arbitration and not by the writ court as it does not have the expertise in respect of measurements or construction of roads."
11. Recently, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of M.P. Power Management Co. Ltd. v. Sky Power Southeast Solar India (P) Ltd., (2023) 2 SCC 703, while dealing with 11 the issue of exercise of writ jurisdiction by a Court in matters arising out of a contract, has stated:
"82.7. The existence of an alternate remedy, is, undoubtedly, a matter to be borne in mind in declining relief in a writ petition in a contractual matter. Again, the question as to whether the writ petitioner must be told off the gates, would depend upon the nature of the claim and relief sought by the petitioner, the questions, which would have to be decided, and, most importantly, whether there are disputed questions of fact, resolution of which is necessary, as an indispensable prelude to the grant of the relief sought. Undoubtedly, while there is no prohibition, in the writ court even deciding disputed questions of fact, particularly when the dispute surrounds demystifying of documents only, the Court may relegate the party to the remedy by way of a civil suit."
(emphasis supplied)
12. A reading of the aforesaid judgments makes it clear that it is well settled proposition of law that when there are disputed question of facts involved in a case, the High Court should not exercise its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. It has been held that the remedy 12 under Article 226 of the Constitution of India may not be proper.
13. From perusal of the pleadings, it appears that the petitioner by way of this petition is seeking a direction towards the respondent authorities to release the remaining amount of Rs. 69,44,399/- with interest @18% per annum from the date of completion of work.
14. In the instant case, the relief sought for by the petitioner is contingent upon the resolution of the disputed question of facts raised, and these questions cannot be adjudicated under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. In view of the aforesaid, it would not be appropriate for this Court to entertain the instant writ petition as there are disputed questions of fact involved.
15. Considering the submissions advanced by learned counsel for the parties, further considering the disputed questions of facts involved in this writ petition, the relief sought by the petitioner and in view of law laid down by the Supreme Court in the above-stated judgments (supra), we do not find any good ground to entertain this writ petition. 13
16. Accordingly, the writ petition being devoid of merit is liable to be and is hereby dismissed. However, liberty is reserved in favour of the petitioner to take recourse to other alternate remedies available to him under the law. No cost(s). Sd/- Sd/-
Sd/- Sd/-
(Bibhu Datta Guru) (Ramesh Sinha)
Judge Chief Justice
Shoaib/Jyoti