NEFA UDYOG Vs. STATE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By making this application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners have approached this Court seeking issuance of writ/writs commanding the respondents to release the outstanding bills of Rs. 4,38,676.00 due to the petitioner No. 1, namely, M/s. Nefa Udyog for supply of sawn timbers made to the Public Works Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, for construction of Capital Complex at Itanagar.

(2.) In a nutshell, the case of the petitioners runs as follows : The petitioner No. 1, namely, M/s. Nefa Udyog, a registered partnership firm, is a Small Scale Industry located at Banderdewa and this Industry stands registered with the Department of Industry, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, since 8-1-1975. The petitioner No. 1 holds a licence issued by the Secretary, Department of Forests, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, for running a Saw Mill at Banderdewa and the petitioner Nos. 2 and 3 are partners of the said firm. The petitioner's firm is a small-scale industry, which makes sawn timbers and other building materials. In the year 1973, when the work of the Capital Complex, at Itanagar, was started, the petitioners, on the orders placed by the Public Works Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, supplied sawn timbers from time to time to the various Divisions and sub-Divisions of the said department for construction of buildings and bridges. On receipt of the work orders/supply orders for the sawn timbers required, the petitioners' firm used to make required sawn timbers ready in their saw mill and the same used to be collected by the representatives of the Sub-Division or Division concerned in their departmental truck from the premises of the said Mill. Before taking delivery of the sawn timbers, the representatives of the respondents used to inspect and measure the same, they used to record the requisite particulars in the challan book and take delivery of the sawn timbers by putting their signatures on the challan (i.e. credit memo). The Range Forest Officer used to issue, after verification, transit permits and on the basis of the permits so obtained, the representatives of the department concerned used to carry the timbers in their departmental truck. The petitioners used to prepare their bills and submit the same to the Junior Engineers concerned and after verification thereof, the Junior Engineers used to forward the bills, so raised, to the Sub-Division and the Division concerned for making payment to the petitioner. For the supplies so made, bills raised by the petitioners are lying unpaid with the respondents since 7-9-1992. The petitioners made several representations seeking payment of their dues, but despite assurances given by the respondents and their representative, the bills were not paid. The total amount of bills pending with the respondents, in this regard, is given, in detail, in Annexure-B to the writ petition. In fact, on the representation made to the Commissioner/Secretary, Public Works Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, seeking payment of the said outstanding dues, the authority aforementioned issued a letter, dated 11-3-94 (Annexure F to the writ petition) directing the Chief Engineers concerned to make payment of the outstanding dues of the petitioners. It was further directed by this letter that the defaulting offices should be served with show-cause notices for making delay in releasing payments. The payments were, however, not made and on repeated representations made by the petitioners seeking payments of their pending bills, the respondent No. 4 eventually admitted, vide his letter, dated 7-5-98 (Annexure-H to the writ petition), that an amount of Rs. 4,38,676.00 was lying outstanding with the respondents, but due to shortage of budget grants, the dues could not be cleared. Left with no alternative, the petitioners have approached this Court seeking relief/reliefs as herein-above indicated.

(3.) The respondents have contested this case by filing their affidavit-in-opposition, their case being, in brief, thus : It is fact that the petitioners have supplied sawn timbers to the respondents from time to time. The acknowledgment by the respondents of the claims made by the petitioners is also correct, but the payment could not be released, because there was no fund or LOC available. However, supporting documents are required to be seen before accepting the claims. The petitioners are also required to furnish proof of royalty/monopoly having been paid to the Forest department for lifting timbers, in question. The petitioners have made huge supply of timbers to the Government departments and they must have exceeded the turn over of rupees one crore, hence, M/s Nefa Udyog cannot really be treated as a SSI unit.