Nayanjyoti Talukdar v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER

15.05.2024

¶1Heard Mr. G. Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. R.R. Gogoi, learned Standing Counsel, Forest Department for all the respondents.

¶2Having regard to the grievances projected by the petitioner, the writ petition is taken up for disposal at the Motion stage itself with the consent of Page No.# 3/4 the parties.

¶3By filing this writ petition, the petitioner prays for a direction to the respondent authorities to release the outstanding bill amount of Rs.14,92,786/- which is due to him and also for release of the Security Deposit amounting to Rs.16,55,000/-. It is the case of the petitioner that an work order for felling of trees was issued in his favour by the office of the Divisional Forest Officer, Kamrup West Division, Bamunigaon on 26.10.2023 (Annexure-C) for a contract price of Rs.1,65,30,939/-. The petitioner having been given the Completion Certificate showing that 100% of the work has been completed raised the bill for the contract work. However, only a sum of Rs.67,72,684/- only was released to the petitioner leaving a balance amount of Rs.14,92,786/- to be paid. Despite approaching the respondents several times the amount having not been paid, the petitioner is before this Court.

¶4Mr. R.R. Gogoi, learned Standing Counsel for the Forest Department submits that the petitioner may have raise the bill concerned but the respondent authorities will have to verify as to how much work has been done and how much amount is due to the petitioner before any further payment can be made. In other words, he submits that the respondents may be given liberty to examine and verify the claims made by the petitioner.

¶5Considering the submissions made and after perusal of the materials available on record, the writ petition stands disposed of by directing the respondent no.2 to verify and the claims to be made by the petitioner for payment of the balance amount of the contract work and in the event within a Page No.# 4/4 period of 4 (four) weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order and if it is found that the amount is due to the petitioner, the same is disbursed to the petitioner within a period of 2 (two) weeks thereafter which will include the Security Deposit deposited by the petitioner as well.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010092212024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/2541/2024o NAYANJYOTIoTALUKDARo S/O-oLATEoPRADIPoTALUKDAR,o R/O-oWARDoNO-4,oSORBHOG,oPIN-781317,oDIST-oBARPETA,oASSAM VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo6oORSo REP.oBYoTHEoSPECIALoCHIEFoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFo ASSAM,oENVIRONMENToANDoFORESTSoDEPARTMENT,o2NDoFLOOR,o BLOCK-D,oJANATAoBHAWAN,o oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI-o781006,oKAMRUPo(M),oASSAM 2:THEoPRINCIPALoCHIEFoCONSERVATORoOFoFORESTS oANDoHEADoOFoFORESToFORCE oASSAM oARANYAoBHAWAN o oPANJABARI oGUWAHATI-781037 oKAMRUPo(M) oASSAM 3:THEoDIVISIONALoFORESToOFFICER oKAMRUPoWESToDIVISION oBAMUNIGAON oPIN-781141 oDIST-oKAMRUP oASSAM 4:THEoRANGEoFORESToOFFICER oBONDAPARAoRANGE oBONDAPARA Page No.# 2/4 PIN-781135 DIST- KAMRUP ASSAM 5:THE RANGE FOREST OFFICER SINGRA RANGE BOKO PIN-781135 DIST- KAMRUP ASSAM 6:THE RANGE FOREST OFFICER KULSI RANGE KULSI PIN-781125 DIST- KAMRUP ASSAM 7:THE RANGE FOREST OFFICER BAMUNIGAON RANGE BAMUNIGAON PIN-781123 DIST- KAMRUP ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR G CHOUDHURY Advocate for the Respondent : SC, FOREST BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE NELSON SAILO