SUNIL TIWARI Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The case is taken up through Video Conferencing.

(2.) The present writ petition has been filed for quashing the order as contained in memo No. 189/S. Cell dtd. 6/10/2020 (Annexure-9 to the writ petition) passed by the respondent No.4 whereby the petitioner's claim for payment of admitted dues of Rs.26,79,413.00 was rejected. Further prayer has been made for issuance of direction upon the respondents to make payment of the said due amount as well as the security amount deposited by the petitioner towards total contract value of Rs.64,17,929.00 for construction of the Upgraded High School at Saltua (Chainpur), Daltonganj as per Agreement No. 172 of 2009-10.

(3.) The factual background of the case, as stated in the writ petition, is that the petitioner was awarded the work for construction of the Upgraded High School at Saltua(Chainpur), Daltonganj. An agreement to that effect was executed between the petitioner and the respondent No.6 on 12/3/2010 vide Agreement No. 172 of 2009-10 and the cost for construction of the said school was estimated as Rs.61,41,559.00. However, the said contract was awarded @ 4.5% higher than the estimated cost of the said building and as such the aggregate value of the contract was fixed to the tune of Rs.64,17,929.00. The petitioner commenced the work and completed the same within the stipulated period as per the terms of the said agreement and out of the total contract value, the petitioner was paid Rs.37,38,507.00 only towards running bills and the rest amount remained unpaid. Thereafter, the petitioner represented the respondent No.6 on 26/3/2012 for release of the due amount with further request to hand over the building to the Education Department. However, the said request of the petitioner was not acted upon. On repeated requests of the petitioner, the said building was finally handed over to the respondent No.6 on 11/2/2013. The petitioner represented to the respondent No.6 on 15/4/2015 requesting him to make payment of Rs.26,79,413.00. Thereafter, the respondent No.6 vide letter No. 195 dtd. 18/5/2015, requested the respondent No.4 to allot fund of Rs.26,79,413.00 for making payment to the petitioner. However, the said due amount was not paid to the petitioner due to which he filed a writ petition before this Court being W.P.(C) No. 3117/2015 for release of due amount which was disposed of vide order dtd. 30/8/2016 giving liberty to the petitioner to approach the competent authority-the respondent No.4 through the respondent No.6 by filing representation along with the relevant documents with further direction to the competent authority to consider the claim of the petitioner in accordance with law after due scrutiny of the relevant material facts relating to execution of the work in question. However, the said respondent authority did not comply the order dtd. 30/8/2016 of this Court and as such the petitioner filed Contempt Case (C) No. 239 of 2020. In the meantime, the respondent No.4 passed the impugned order dtd. 6/10/2020 whereby the petitioner's claim for payment of aforesaid dues was rejected. The said contempt case was disposed of on 9/10/2020 with a liberty to the petitioner to assail the order dtd. 6/10/2020 before the appropriate forum. Hence, the present writ petition.