Nityananda Debnath v. The State of Assam and 5 Ors

O R D E R

18.12.2023

¶1Heard Mr. D Chakrabarty, the learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. A Jahid, learned counsel for the respondent Nos. 3 to 6 and Mr. R Dhar, learned counsel for the respondent Nos. 1 and 2.

¶2The claim of the petitioner is that his employer i.e. respondent Nos. 3 to 6 owes him an amount of Rs. 13,24,493/- against the outstanding salary due. According to the petitioner, the petitioner has been pursuing with the respondent authorities for payment of such due, however, the respondents have failed to honour his due.

¶3The respondents have filed an affidavit wherein a specific stand has been taken that total outstanding due to the petitioner is Rs. 10,44,845/- only and Page No.# 3/4 not Rs. 13,24,493/- as claimed by the petitioner. While admitting such due, yet another stand has been taken that due to severe financial constraint faced by the ARTFED, the petitioner could not be paid and that the respondent ARTFED is not in a position to pay the admitted amount to the petitioner at the current situation.

¶4This court is of the view that instrumentality of the State like ARTFED cannot take financial constraint as a ground to deny right of an employee to get legally due salaries, more particularly when such due was unequivocally admitted. .

¶5At this stage, the learned standing counsel for the ARTFED on instruction from his client submits that a proposal has already been sent to the Government for release of money due to the petitioner as well as of some other employees and it will take three months time to get such sanction from the Government and then only ARTFED will be in a position to pay the same to the petitioner. Therefore, he prays that a period of three months may be granted to make such payment.

¶6Considering the above submission and the specific stand taken in oath in the affidavit as discussed hereinabove, this court is of the view that the petitioner has been able to make out a case for direction to the respondents to pay the outstanding admitted due amounting to Rs. 10,44,845/- to the petitioner.

¶7Accordingly, it is directed that the respondent Nos. 3 to 6 shall do the needful for payment to the petitioner amounting to Rs. 10,44,845/- within a period of 6 (six) months from today. The respondents may also pay the aforesaid amount in instalments to the petitioner within the period fixed as above. Page No.# 4/4

¶8With the aforesaid, the present writ petition stands disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010041732021 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/1558/2021o NITYANANDAoDEBNATHo S/O-oLT.oKULENDRAoCHANDRAoDEBNATH,oR/O-oGHUNGOOR,oKULENDRAo NAGAR,oP.O.oNIT,oSILCHAR-o788010,oP.S.oSILCHAR,oDIST.-oCACHAR,oASSAM VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo5oORSo REP.oBYoTHEoCOMM.oANDoSECY.oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oDEPTT.oOFo HANDLOOMoTEXTILESoANDoSERICULTURE,oGHY-6,oKAMRUPo(M),oASSAM 2:THEoDIRECTOR oDIRECTORATEoOFoHANDLOOMoANDoTEXTILES oASSAM oGOPINATHoBORDOLOIoROAD oAMBARI oGHY-01 oKAMRUPo(M) oASSAM 3:THEoMANAGINGoDIRECTOR oASSAMoAPEXoWEAVERSoANDoARTISANSoCO-OPERATIVESoFEDERATIONo LTD.o(ARTFED) oA.K.AZADoROAD oREHABARI-oGHY-o08 oKAMRUPo(M) oASSAM 4:THEoMANAGER oACCOUNTS oARTFED oA.K.AZADoROAD oREHABARI-oGHY-o08 Page No.# 2/4 KAMRUP (M) ASSAM 5:THE BRANCH MANAGER ARTFED KOLKATA BRANCH KOLKATA WEST BENGAL 6:THE BRANCH MANAGER ARTFED DISPUR BRANCH GHY-06 KAMRUP (M) ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. D CHAKRABARTY Advocate for the Respondent : SC, HANDLOOM AND TEXTILE BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE ARUN DEV CHOUDHURY