JATIN PATHAK Vs. STATE OF ASSAM AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed seeking appropriate directions for payment of an amount of Rs.8,82,064/- which is claimed to be the admitted outstanding amount payable to the petitioner on account of contract work performed and executed by him for the Public Works Department of the State of Assam.

(2.) The claim made by the writ petitioner has been admitted to be due and payable by the departmental Secretary in the affidavit filed in the present proceeding on 02nd May, 2005. In the aforesaid affidavit the departmental Secretary has stated that the contract works in question were allotted to the petitioner in the years 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 and though the same were performed satisfactorily by the petitioner, out of the total bill of the petitioner which was to the extent of Rs. 9,27,114/-, only Rs. 45,000/- has been paid to the petitioner during the year 2002-03. The outstanding balance payable to the petitioner has been stated in the affidavit filed to be Rs. 8,82,114/-. The departmental Secretary, in the affidavit filed, has further stated that the amount has remained unpaid on account of paucity of fund in the hands of the Government and that no sooner the requisite funds are received by the department, the dues of the petitioner will be settled without any further delay. In similar situations, this Court, in several writ petitions disposed of earlier, directed the department to pay the outstanding dues of the petitioners therein within a particular time frame. Many of such orders of the Court having remained unimplemented, contempt proceedings have been initiated wherein the defence taken by the concerned officer (s) is that the order of the Court had remained unimplemented not on account of any deliberate omission on the part of the concerned officers but because of the fact that no money is available for payment in accordance with the directions issued. In a contempt proceeding registered as Contempt Case No.5/2004, the departmental Commissioner and Special Secretary has filed an affidavit pursuant to the specific order passed by the Court in the said case stating that, presently, there are a total number of 1062 contractors under the Department in respect of whom money is payable under orders of the Court and the total amount of money involved is Rs.4718.22 lakhs. This Court may reasonably assume that there will be a large number of other contractors to whom money is due but who may not have moved the Court for payment of their admitted outstanding dues. In the aforesaid situation, I am of the considered view that the present writ application ought to be disposed of with a little modification of the orders passed earlier in similar matters so as to secure the interests of all concerned and to ensure an equitable distribution of Government funds in discharge of the admitted outstanding dues of the citizens. Accordingly, it is ordered that the following directions shall govern this particular case as well as the course of action that the Department shall now adopt in deciding all similar claims that may be pending before it.

(3.) This writ petition shall stand disposed of in terms of the above directions.