M/S. J.K. Trade and Commerce v. The State of Assam and 5 Ors

ORDER Date : 21.08.2024

Heard Mr. J. Abbas, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. P. Sarma, learned counsel for the Fishery Department and Ms. U. Das, learned counsel for the State respondents.

¶2The grievance of the petitioner is that he had undertaken a contract work under the Fishery Department, i.e., "Construction of Wholesale Fish Market at Howly Town, Howly, Assam under NFDB Fundin" at a bid price of Rs. 2,28,89,000/-. Though the petitioner had executed around 60% of the contract work, the respondent authorities did not release the running bills of the petitioner, despite repeated requests. As such, the petitioner filed the present writ petition, for a direction to be issued to the respondent authorities, to pay the running bills of the petitioner. During the proceedings of this case, the petitioner completed the contract work on January, 2023. Page No.# 3/5

¶3The petitioner's counsel thus prays that the petitioner should be given his entire contractual dues by the respondents, as the contract work in question has been completed.

¶5Mr. P. Sharma, learned counsel for the Fishery Department submits that as per the letter dated 20.08.2024, issued by the Director of Fisheries and addressed to the Additional Secretary to the Government of Assam, Fishery Department, Guwahati, having memo No. AF(E)379/Courtcase/2018-19/81/3329, which has enclosed the payment status report regarding payment made and to be made to the petitioner, the petitioner is still to be paid an amount of Rs. 24,60,775/-, as all other payments have been made to him.

¶6I have heard the learned counsels for the parties.

¶7The enclosed status report of the payment made/to be made to the petitioner, forwarded in terms of the letter dated 20.08.2024 by the Director of Fisheries, Assam, is reproduced herein below as follows :- "Present Payment status report as on 20/08/2024

Name of Work :-Construction of Wholesale cum Retail Fish Market at Howly, Barpeta District with financial Assistance from NFDB Hyderabad under the Scheme Marketing and Transport (General) 2014-15

Contractor's Name:- M/S J.K Trade & Commerce, Guwahati

Date of Commencement 2015-08-17

Date of Completion 2023-01-25

Page No.# 4/5 Up to date Value of Work Done: 22,559,775.00

Gauhati High Court Case No- WP(C) 223/2019

Status of Payment: SL. No. Bill No. Payment made as per FOC received Remarks

¶11st RA Bill Rs.6,332,200.00 2017-01-27

2nd RA Bill 1st part payment Rs.6,256,800.00 2019-06-10

¶22nd part payment Rs.150,000.00 Mar-20 3rd part payment Rs.1,910,000.00 2022-03-21

3.

3rd RA cum Final Bill 1st part payment Rs.3,200,000.00 2023-03-22 2nd part payment Rs.2,250,000.00 2023-10-30 3rd part payment Rs.2,460,775.00 Process for Final Payment is in progress for the current FY 2024-25 Total Rs.22,559,775.00 Page No.# 5/5

Director of Fisheries Assam"

¶8A perusal of the above chart shows that the contract work had been completed by the petitioner on 25.01.2023 and the up-to-date value of the contract done is Rs.22,559,775/-. Further, all the payments have been made, except for 3rd part payment of the 3rd RA cum Final Bill of Rs. 24,60,775/-, which is being processed for payment during the current financial year.

¶9In view of there being admission made by the State respondents that all the dues of the petitioner have been cleared, except for an amount of Rs. 24,60,775/-, which is being processed for final payment in the current financial year, the respondents are directed to complete the process for payment of the admitted dues of Rs. 24,60,775/- and pay the same to the petitioner in the current financial year and not later than 31st of December, 2024.

¶10The writ petition is accordingly disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010006902019 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/223/2019o M/S.oJ.K.oTRADEoANDoCOMMERCEo AoPROPRIETORSHIPoCONCERN,o REGISTEREDoCLASSo(A),oCONTRACTORoHAVINGoITSoOFFICEoAToG.S.o ROAD,o oCHRISTIANBASTI,oGUWAHATIo-o781005o DIST.oKAMRUPo(M),oASSAM,o oREP.oHEREINoBYoITSoPROPRIETOR,o SRIoAMIToKUMARoBAGARIA,oAGEDoABOUTo34oYEARS,o S/OoLATEoKAILASHoNATHoBAGARIA,o R/OoSREEoNAGAR,o oP.O.oANDoP.S.oDISPUR,o GUWAHATI,oASSAM-o781006. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo5oORS.o REP.oHEREINoBYoITSoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,o oFISHERYoDEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI,oASSAM-o781006. 2:THEoJOINToSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oFISHERYoDEPARTMENT oDISPURoGUWAHATI oASSAM-o781006. 3:THEoDIRECTORoOFoFISHERIES oTHEoDEPARTMENToOFoFISHERIES oMEENoBHAWANoGOPINATHoNAGAR oGUWAHATI oASSAM-o781016. 4:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oBARPETAoASSAM o-o781301. Page No.# 2/5 5:THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER THE DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES GOPINATH NAGAR GUWAHATI ASSAM-781016. 6:THE DISTRICT FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT OFFICER BARPETA ASSAM- 781301 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. S BORTHAKUR, MR. J ABBAS Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM, MR. P SHARMAH SC FISHERY DEPT.,MR A CHALIHA SC. Fin. dept. BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MICHAEL ZOTHANKHUMA