MRITUNJAY KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this writ petition, the petitioners have sought for quashing of the certificate proceeding being Certificate Case No. BICICO/10 of 2002 pending before the Certificate Officer of the Bihar State Credit & Investment Corporation Ltd. purporting to be under the provisions of the Bihar & Orissa Public Demands Recovery Act, 1914. The petitioners have assailed the validity of the certificate proceeding on the ground of inherent lack of jurisdiction besides that it is illegal and arbitrary.

(2.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioners submitted that this question has been considered by this Court in the case of Nav Bharat Link Chain Manufacturers Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors., reported in 2004 (1) PLJR 487 and this Court relying upon the earlier judgment of this Court in the case of Sunil Kumar Mehrotra vs. State of Bihar & ors. (C. W. J.C. No. 12155/2002) and Janardan Prasad Singh vs. The Bihar State Credit & Investment Corporation Ltd. & Ors., reported in 2003(3) PLJR 757, held that certificate case for realisation of the due or dues in regard to the term loan under the agreement cannot be instituted against the borrower Company without meeting the requirement of public demand as provided in Clause 15 of Schedule I, which provides that such money is recoverable as public demand only if the person liable to pay the same has agreed by a written instrument.

(3.) THIS Court thus finds that this case is also covered by the decision in the case of Sunil Kumar Mehrotra and accordingly, this writ petition is allowed. The certificate proceeding in question so far as it relates to the petitioner is quashed.