Firoz Hussain and Anr v. The State of Assam and 4 Ors

ORDER

03.04.2024

¶1Heard Mrs. K.K. Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. D. Upamanyu, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Mr. K. Gogoi, learned CGC appearing for the respondent no.6 and Ms. A. Lodha learned counsel for the respondent nos. 1-5.

¶2The petitioners herein are registered contractors with the Water Resources Department, Morigaon. They are aggrieved with non-payment of their balance bills for the works done by them under the Scheme of "R/S to T/dyke along Page No.# 3/4 both banks of Kopilli River from Charaihagi to Tuklaitup (L/B), Basundhari to Killing Kopilli Junction (L/B) and Chaparmukh Ahatguri Amsoi P.W.D. Road (R/B) Including Anti-Erosion measures at different reaches."

¶3The petitioners' counsel submits that the outstanding payment to be made to the petitioner no.1 is Rs.7,41,365/, while Rs.8,64,249/- is to be paid to the petitioner no.2. She submits that as the respondents have admitted that they are liable to pay the above two amounts to the petitioners, i.e. total amount of Rs.16,05,614/-, a direction may be issued to the respondents to pay the same within a stipulated time period.

¶4Ms. A. Lodha, learned counsel for the Water Resources Department submits that in terms of the affidavit-in-opposition filed on behalf of the respondent no.2, the petitioners are to be paid their balance due amount of Rs.16,05,614/-. However, the same could not be paid as the central share for the scheme had not been given by the Central Government to the concerned State Department. She submits that as and when the fund is received from the Central Government, the payment will be paid to the petitioners.

¶5I have heard the learned counsels for the parties.

¶6The claim of the petitioner no.1 amounting to Rs.7,41,365/- and the claim of the petitioner no.2 amounting to Rs. 8,64,249/- has been admitted by the State respondents in paragraph-8 of the affidavit-in-opposition.

¶7Paragraph-8 of the affidavit-in-opposition is reproduced hereinbelow, as follows : Page No.# 4/4 "8. That the deponent begs to state that the work was allotted to the petitioners against the above mentioned scheme and after receiving the aforesaid work orders, the petitioners executed the work. After satisfactory progress/completion of work, bills were prepared. The scheme is under FMP (Flood Management Programme) under XI Plan & the Head of Account is i) 4711-01-103-0120-977-13-99-SOPD-SS-GA-V (State Share) & ii) 4711-01-103-0120-977-13-99-SOPD-LS-GA-V (Central Share). The Administrative Approval was accorded by the Government and Technical Sanction was issued by the then Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Assam vide No. WR(C) 2/2011/7 dated 17.08.2011 and WR (ED) Tech/6044/09/53 dated 26.02.2011 respectively. The estimated amount of the scheme was Rs. 11062.00 lakh out of which 90% was supposed to be borne by the Government of India under central share and the remaining 10% was supposed to be borne by the Government of Assam under the state share. A sum of Rs. 2914.20 lakhs has been received as central share and Rs. 1335.844 lakhs has been received as state share respectively. The total bill value of the petitioners against all the work order issued against the said scheme is Rs. 5151829.00 and out of which payment has been made proportionately for Rs. 3546215.00 till date leaving balance amount of 1605614.00. It is a fact that full payment to the petitioners could not be made as full amount of fund is yet to be received by the Department from the Central Government. The Department is taking all possible steps for release of fund from the Central Government."

¶8As the total amount of Rs.16,05,614/- is admitted to be the outstanding liability of the State respondents payable to the petitioners, in the ratio stated above, the respondents are directed to make arrangements for the fund and pay the same to the petitioners, within a period of 5 (five) months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.

¶9This writ petition is accordingly disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010158742023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/4102/2023o FIROZoHUSSAINoANDoANRo S/O-oLATEoABDULoHUSSAIN,o R/O-oM.AZADoROAD,oNEARoINDIANoOVERoSEASoBANK,o P.O.oANDoP.S.-oNAGAON,oSADAR,o DISTRICT-oNAGAON,oASSAM.o PIN-o782001. 2:oPYREoROSEoKHAN oS/O-oLATEoSULTANoALIoKHAN o R/O-oA.D.P.oROADoCHRISTIANoPATTY o P.O.oANDoP.S.-oNAGAON oSADAR o DISTRICT-oNAGAON oASSAM.o PIN-o782001o VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo4oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,o WATERoRESOURCESoDEPARTMENT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-6. 2:THEoCHIEFoENGINEER oWATERoRESOURCESoDEPARTMENT oASSAM oBASISTHA oGUWAHATI-29. 3:THEoSUPERINTENDENToENGINEER oWATERoRESOURCESoDEPARTMENT Page No.# 2/4 DIVISION MORIGAON- 782001. 4:THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT MORIGAON PIN- 782001. 5:THE ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE ENGINEER WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT MORIGAON PIN- 782001. 6:UNION OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI E-GONERNANCE CELL 6TH FLOOR CABIN SHRAM SHAKTI BHAWAN RAFI MARG NEW DELHI-110001 Advocate for the Petitioner : MRS. K K CHOUDHURY Advocate for the Respondent : SC, WATER RESOURCE BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MICHAEL ZOTHANKHUMA