Neha Kasliwal Jain v. The State of Assam and 3 Ors

ORDER

28.02.2024 Heard Mr. M. Pandit, learned counsel for the petitioner. Mr. M. Chetia, learned counsel appears for the respondent Nos. 1, 2 and 4, while Mr. S.R. Rabha, learned counsel appears for the respondent No.3 (BTC).

¶2The case of the petitioner is that she is a registered owner of a vehicle bearing registration no. AS-16/H-5111. It has been averred that during the period from 25.11.2020 – 31.07.2023, the office of the respondent no. 4 had requisitioned the said vehicle on a number of occasions and thereafter released them on different dates. The petitioner had thereafter submitted bills towards hiring charges amounting to Rs. 13,54,680/- including daily allowance of the driver/staff and the Value Added Tax. It is stated that despite repeated requests to the respondent authorities seeking disbursement of the said amount, the respondent authorities did not take any discernible action for disbursement of the bill amount. The petitioner is thus constrained to approach this Court by way of this writ petition, seeking disbursal of the said amount.

¶3Mr. M. Chetia, learned counsel appearing for the respondent Nos. 1, 2 and 4 submits that after verification by the Superintendent of Police, Kokrajhar, the bills for the hiring charges have been forwarded to the Assam Police, Headquarter, Ulubari, Guwahati for granting necessary sanction and release of funds for the total admissible amount of Rs.13,54,680/-. He submits that as soon as the fund is sanctioned, the amount will be paid to the petitioner. Page No.# 3/4

¶4I have heard the learned counsels for the parties.

¶5Paragraph No. 7 of the affidavit-in-opposition filed by the respondent No. 4 states as follows- "7. That with regard to the statement made in paragraph No. 6 of the writ petition, the deponent begs to state that the competent authority hired the vehicles from the above petitioner for the use of this respondent for the interest of public service and maintaining the law & order situation. However, this respondent has no authority to sanction the hired charge bills and accordingly all hired charge bills were forwarded to the office of the Assam Police Headquarters, Ulubari, Guwahati in different occasions through memos for according necessary sanction and release of fund for total admissible amount of Rs. 13,54,680/- (Rupees thirteen lakhs fifty four thousand six hundred eighty) only, wherein budget has been sanctioned for Rs. 1,58,470 (Rupees One Lakh Fifty Eight Thousand Four Hundred Seventy) only and after ceiling received from the Assam Police Headquarters, he will be paid accordingly. The rest amount is payable to him."

¶6As can be seen from the above, the petitioner is liable to be paid Rs.13,54,680/- as per the verification and admission made by the Superintendent of Police, Kokrajhar, Assam. However, in terms of the Full Bench judgment of this Court in the case of Tamsher Ali Vs. State of Assam & Others, reported in 2008 (4) GLT 1, the verification and admission of the outstanding liability has to be made by the Head of the Department, which, in this case, would be the respondent No.2.

¶6Accordingly, the respondent No.2 is directed to re-verify the amount payable to the petitioner after going through the verification made by the Superintendent of Police, Kokrajhar and take a decision on the same. Thereafter, Page No.# 4/4 the admitted amount should be paid to the petitioner. The entire exercise should be completed within a period of 3(three) months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.

¶7The writ petition is accordingly disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010238342023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/6177/2023 NEHAoKASLIWALoJAIN C/O-oAMIToKASLIWALoJAIN oR/O-oJ.D.oROAD oWARDoNO.o5 oP.O.oANDoDIST.oKOKRAJHAR oPIN-o783370. oVERSUS THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo3oORS REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARY oDEPARTMENToOFoHOME oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-781006. 2:THEoDIRECTORoGENERALoOFoPOLICE oULUBARI GUWAHATI oASSAM-781007. o3:THEoBODOLANDoTERRITORIALoCOUNCIL REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARY oKOKRAJHAR oPIN-o783370. o4:THEoSUPERINTENDENToOFoPOLICE KOKRAJHAR oASSAM oPIN-o783370. o------------ oAdvocateoforo:oMR.oAoLAL Advocateoforo:oGA oASSAMoappearingoforoTHEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo3oORS Page No.# 2/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MICHAEL ZOTHANKHUMA