SHIV NATH SINGH GONJHU Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Since the relief sought for in the aforesaid writ applications pertains to quashing of the order dated 06.01.2010 whereby the order of recovery of the amount has been passed by the respondent authorities in respect of petitioners and due to identical prayer in the aforesaid writ applications, with the consent of the respective counsel the matters have been heard analogously and are being disposed of by this common order.

(2.) In the captioned writ applications, the prayer has been made for quashing of the aforesaid order relating to recovery of Rs.5,49,337/- (in W.P.(S) No.587 of 2010) in 35 monthly equal installment of an amount of Rs.15,250/- and an amount of Rs.15,587/- by way of last and 36th installment from the salary of the petitioner, Rs.3,66,224/- (in W.P.(S) No.386 of 2010) in 35 monthly equal installment of an amount of Rs.10,170/- and an amount of Rs.10,274/- by way of last and 36th installment from the salary of the petitioner, Rs.1,83,112/- (in W.P.(S) No.407 of 2010) in 35 monthly equal installment of an amount of Rs.5,085/- and an amount of Rs.5137/- by way of last and 36th installment from the salary of the petitioner and Rs.1,83,112/- (in W.P.(S) No.412 of 2010) in 35 monthly equal installment of an amount of Rs.5085/- and an amount of Rs.5,137/- by way of last and 36th installment from the salary of the petitioner.

(3.) The facts, as have been delineated in the writ applications, in a nut shell, is that all the petitioners joined their services under the erstwhile State of Bihar in the Public Health and Engineering Department and after bifurcation they have been allocated to the State of Jharkhand and are working at the relevant point of time in the capacity of Executive Engineer/Assistant Engineer/Junior Engineer. While the petitioners were continuing on the aforesaid posts, a tender was invited in the name of Ramgarh Town Water Supply Scheme which got due approval of the erstwhile Public Health Engineering Department, Government of Bihar, Patna vide memo dated 26.12.1998 for an amount of Rs.407.41 lakhs. After technical and administrative sanction, a notice of tender was issued in the year 2002-03 and the lowest bidder was allotted the work on 15% below by the order of the then Regional Chief Engineer and in terms of the said order the then Executive Engineer has entered into an agreement being Agreement no.F2-8/2002-03. Subsequently, a revised estimate for construction of a check dam to the amount of Rs.99,09,550/- was prepared which got the technical sanction by the order of the Regional Chief Engineer, Ranchi vide letter dated 28.06.2003 and a supplementary agreement being Agreement No.F2-1/2003-04 was entered into by the then Executive Engineer in terms of the revised estimate and a fresh tender was again invited to complete the rest of the work. During the relevant time the petitioners were posted at Ramgarh Division. It has been further averred that on construction of the Check dam the total sanctioned amount was Rs.65,81,000/- against which the revised estimate duly accorded sanction of an amount of Rs.99,69,550/- which was sent before the Ramgarh Cantonment Board providing fund against which a sum of Rs.94,87,767/- was provided. The Cantonment Board provided the amount to the Division in different installment and in anticipation of the fact that the next installment will also be released by the Cantonment Board the work was completed but all of a sudden the Cantonment Board stopped the amount and a sum of Rs.7,70,709/- could not have been paid to the concerned Contractor, however, petitioners completed the said work which cannot be said to be their fault. It has been further submitted that the concerned contractor having not been paid the said amount preferred a writ petition bearing W.P.(C) No.5920 of 2006 and this Hon'ble Court vide order dated 06.11.2006 disposed of the matter giving liberty to the petitioner to file representation regarding his claim. In pursuance to the order dated 06.11.2006 passed by this Court, on receipt of such representation the respondent no.2 directed to make payment of Rs.7,70,632/-. It has further been stated that prior to posting of the petitioners the agreement was entered into between the parties but the liability has been fixed upon the petitioners. Thereafter, the petitioners were issued show cause to which they replied requesting the authorities to exonerate them from the charges. The enquiry committee vide its report dated 17.08.2009 along with covering letter, vide Annexure-11, has admitted that no amount is to be recovered from these engineers posted during the relevant time rather the amount is to be recovered from the Cantonment Board. But, surprisingly the respondent authorities vide order dated 06.01.2010 passed the impugned order whereby excess amount which has been paid to the concerned contractor has been directed to be recovered from the salary of the petitioners. Being aggrieved by the impugned order of recovery, petitioners having no other alternative have been constrained to approach this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for redressal of their grievance.