Nawal Kishor Sahani v. The Indian Institute of Technology and 5 Ors

ORDER Date : 25-09-2023 Mr. J. Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. S. Sutradhar, learned counsel for the respondent nos. 1 – 4; and Mr. K. Gogoi, learned Central Government Counsel for the respondent nos. 5 & 6.

¶2The petitioner was awarded a contract work :- 'Installation of 3m3 size Bio-Gas plant with required G.I. Pipe, P.V.C. pipe' ['the Contract-Work', for short], vide a Work Order no. 1008/CFF/P/PM/03/3269 dated 08.03.2017, and the petitioner has claimed that he had successfully completed the same as the respondent no. 4 acknowledging the installation of 500 nos. of Bio-Gas plants, issued a Work Completion Certificate on 22.04.2019. The petitioner had thereafter, submitted a final bill amounting to Rs. 91,84,000/- in respect of the Contract-Work. When the respondent authorities did not disburse the said amount for a substantial period of time, the petitioner had instituted the instant Page No.# 3/4 writ petition.

¶3Mr. Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner has received an amount of Rs. 90,00,320/- recently. It is submitted by him that the respondent authorities have not disclosed the reason as to why an amount of Rs. 1,83,680/- has not been disbursed to the petitioner.

¶4Mr. Sutradhar, learned counsel appearing for the respondent nos. 1-4 has submitted on instructions, that the amount of Rs. 1,83,680/- has been deducted from the final bill of the petitioner as Tax Deducted at Source [TDS] in terms of the provisions of Section 194C of the Income Tax Act.

¶5In response, Mr. Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the writ petition, at this stage, can be closed, reserving the liberty to the petitioner to raise the grievance as regards the deduction of the amount of Rs. 1,83,680/- from the final bill of the petitioner. The said submission of Mr. Singh is not objected to by the learned counsel for the respondents.

¶6Having regard to the broad consensus arrived at by the parties in the afore-stated manner and the fact that the petitioner had already received an amount of Rs. 90,00,320/- till date, this Court is of the considered view that instead of keeping the writ petition pending, the same can be closed, with the liberty to the petitioner to submit a representation as regards the deduction of the amount of Rs. 1,83,680/- from his final bill amount by the respondent authorities within a period of 2 [two] weeks from today. It is observed that on receipt of such representation, the respondent authorities shall consider the same on its own merits and in accordance with law and thereafter, disposes of the same by a speaking order within a period of 4 [four] weeks from the date of Page No.# 4/4 receipt of such representation. It is accordingly ordered. No cost.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010059022022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/2204/2022o NAWALoKISHORoSAHANIo S/OoLATEoRAGHUBIRoSAHANI,oR/OoPUSPALAYAoAPARTMENT,oC-4,oMRDo ROADoSILPUKHURI,oGUWAHATI-781003,oKAMRUP(M),oASSAM VERSUSo THEoINDIANoINSTITUTEoOFoTECHNOLOGYoANDo5oORSo GUWAHATI,oPIN-781039,oDIST-KAMRUP(M),oASSAM 2:ASSISTANToREGISTRARo(RoANDoD) oINDIANoINSTITUTEoOFoTECHNOLOGY oRESEARCHoANDoDEVELOPMENToGUWAHATI oPIN-781039 oDIST-KAMRUP(M) oASAM 3:TECHNICALoOFFICERo(GRADE-I)-CUMoPERSONALoINVESTIGATORo(I/C)o BDTC-IITG oSCHOOLoOFoENERGYoSCIENCEoANDoENGINEERING oINDIANoINSTITUTEoOFoTECHNOLOGY oGUWAHATI-781039 oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM 4:PROFESSORoOFoCHEMISTRYoANDoDEAN oRESEARCHoANDoDEVELOPMENT oINDIANoINSTITUTEoOFoTECHNOLOGY oGUWAHATI-781039 oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM 5:SCIENTIST-D Page No.# 2/4 MINISTRY OF NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY BIOGAS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DIVISION BLOCK-14 CGO COMPLEX LODHI ROAD NEW DELHI-110003 6:THE UNION OF INDIA MINISTRY OF NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY THROUGH THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF INDIA NEW DELHI-11000 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. S SAHU Advocate for the Respondent : SC, IIT BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY