Iman Uddin v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER Date : 26.07.2023

¶1The case of the Petitioner herein is that the Petitioner is aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the Respondent Authorities in not making payment of the bills of the Petitioner. The case of the Petitioner herein is that the petitioner was entrusted to execute the work namely "Immediate Measure to extension of embankment along B/B of River Longai from Chandkhira PWD bridge to Katabari & B/B of Deolakhal under SDRF for 2016-17 (Breach closing work at B/B of Deolakhal)" under Group No.1 (one) at chainage/location 1810-1828 M (R/B) vide Work Order bearing No.KXJ/T-10/WO/CS-I/Deolakhal/2016-17/1 Page No.# 3/4 dated 28.12.2016 and Work Order No.KXJ/T-10/WO/Shutter/2016-17/4 dated

24.02.2017 issued by the Executive Engineer, Water Resources Division, Karimganj. In the said work orders, the tender values were quoted as Rs.11,41,599/- and Rs.1,17,686/- respectively.

¶2It is the case of the Petitioner that the Petitioner successfully executed the works and accordingly submitted the bills for the said works. As per the Petitioner, the Petitioner is entitled to amount of Rs.8,32,161/- and Rs.1,17,659/- thereby totaling to Rs.9,49,820/-. It is the case of the Petitioner that the Petitioner had submitted various representations to the Respondent Authorities for release of the amount however the said amount of Rs.9,49,820/- is still pending, for which the Petitioner has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution.

¶3It appears on record that the Chief Engineer, Water Resource Department i.e. the Respondent No.5 has filed an affidavit-in-opposition on 05.06.2023 wherein it has been mentioned that after due completion of both the works by the Petitioner, the demand of the Petitioner's bill was placed before the Respondent No.3 vide its office letter dated 09.01.2020. It was further mentioned that due to non-receipt of the fund from the concerned authorities, the Water Resource Division, Karimganj was not in a position to make payment to the Petitioner. Further to that it is also mentioned in the said affidavit that Water Resource Department had never denied the Petitioner's entitlement and that the payment would be made as soon as the fund is received from the Higher Authority.

¶4Ms. P. Mahanta, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Revenue Page No.# 4/4 Department has submitted that the justification report had already been received from the Deputy Commissioner, Karimganj wherein the entitlement of the Petitioner have been admitted and as such the Revenue Department would be disbursing the said amount to the Deputy Commissioner, Karimganj who in turn shall disburse the amount to the Petitioner.

¶5Taking into account the admitted stand of the Respondent Authorities where there is no denial to the entitlement of the Petitioner and that the process of verification is also complete, this Court therefore directs the Principal Secretary, Government of Assam, Revenue and Disaster Management to release the funds to the Deputy Commissioner, Karimganj within a period of 45 days from the date a certified copy of the instant order is served upon the Principal Secretary to the Government of Assam, Revenue and Disaster Management Department. The Deputy Commissioner, Karimganj immediately upon receiving the amount shall and not later than 15 days from the date of receipt of the funds from the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, release the said amount to the Petitioner.

¶6A certified copy of the instant order be also furnished to the Deputy Commissioner, Karimganj for effective compliance.

¶7With above observations and directions, the instant writ petition stands disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010191952022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/6179/2022o IMANoUDDINo S/O.oLT.oSONUHARoALI,oVILL.oCHENGJUR,oP.O.oANDoP.S.oPATHERKANDI,o DIST.oKARIMGANJ,oASSAM,oPIN-788724. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo6oORSo REP.oBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECY.oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oREVENUEoANDo DISASTERoMANAGEMENToDEPTT.,oF-BLOCK,oASSAMoSECRETARIAT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-06. 2:THEoJOINToSECRETARY oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oREVENUEoANDoDISASTERoMANAGEMENTo(GENERAL)oDEPTT. oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-06. 3:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oKARIMGANJoP.O.oANDoDIST.oKARIMGANJ oASSAM oPIN-788712. 4:THEoADDL.oCHIEFoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oWATERoRESOURCESoDEPTT. oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-06. 5:THEoCHIEFoENGINEER oWATERoRESOURCEoDEPTT. Page No.# 2/4 CHANDMARI GUWAHATI-03. 6:THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER WATER RESOURCES DIVISION KARIMGANJ P.O. AND DIST. KARIMGANJ ASSAM PIN-788712. 7:THE ASSTT. EXECUTIVE ENGINEER PATHARKANDI WATER RESOURCES SUB-DIVISION PATHERKANDI DIST. KARIMGANJ ASSAM PIN-788724 For the Petitioner(s) : Mr. K. Uddin, Advocate For the Respondent(s) : Ms. P. Mahanta, Advocate : Mr. C. Sarmah, Advocate BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH