Jahidul Hoque v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER Date : 20.11.2024 Heard Mr. M. Ahmed, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also, heard Ms. N. Borah, learned Standing Counsel, P&RD department, and Mr. M. Chetia, learned Junior Government Advocate for respondent no. 3.

¶2By way of this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner is seeking payment of Rs. 48,70,760.34 (Rupees forty eight lakh seventy thousand seven hundred sixty and thirty four paisa) only, against the contractual bills submitted by the petitioner. The facts of the case is that the petitioner in the year 2020-21 against 15 Work Orders issued by the Block Development Officer, Gauripur Development Block, Dharmasala, under MGNREGA scheme completed the subject work. It is the further case of the petitioner that pursuant to the petitioner completing the subject work, completion certificate thereof were issued by the authorities. After completion, the petitioner raised 15 bills for the 15 subject works. Though the bill towards wages were paid to the job card holder directly to their account, however, the bills in respect of the materials against the subject bills submitted by the petitioner were not cleared for which the present writ petition has been filed.

¶3Today when the matter was called Ms. N. Borah, learned Standing Counsel P&RD, submits the para wise comments received from the Office of the District Rural Development Agency, Dhubri by communication dated 10.09.2024 which is placed before this Court Page No.# 4/4 and the same is kept on record and marked as "X".

¶4It appears from the aforesaid para wise comments that the outstanding pending contractual subject bills of the petitioner are said to be ready for payment.

¶5Mr. M. Ahmed, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in view of the instruction received by the learned Standing Counsel, P&RD, this writ petition can be disposed of with a direction to release the pending bills within a time period. Ms. N. Borah, learned Standing Counsel P&RD fairly concedes to the aforesaid.

¶6In view of the aforesaid endorsement and specifically keeping in mind the reply to paragraph 42 of the para wise comments, wherein the Project Director, DRDA, Dhubri, have categorically mentioned that the present bills of the petitioner are ready for payment, this Court is inclined to dispose of this writ petition by directing the respondent authority to release the pending admitted amount in respect of the subject 15 nos. of bill of the petitioner in accordance with law within a period of 3 (three) months from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the Court's order.

¶7Ordered accordingly.

¶8With the above observations and directions, the writ petition is disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010044962024 ooooooo undefined ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/1290/2024o JAHIDULoHOQUEo PROPRIETORoOFoM/SoJAHIDULoENTERPRISE,o SONoOFoLATEoKHAIMUDDINoSHEIKH,o RESIDENToOFoVILLAGE-oMADHUSOULMARIoPART-II,o POSToOFFICE-oMADHUSOULMARI,o POLICEoSTATION-oGAURIPUR,o DISTRICT-oDHUBRI,oASSAM,oPIN-o783331. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo6oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOF ASSAM,o PANCHAYAToANDoRURALoDEVELOPMENToDEPARTMENT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-o06. 2:THEoCOMMISSIONER oPANCHAYAToANDoRURALoDEVELOPMENToDEPARTMENT oPANJABARIoROAD oJURIPAR oGUWAHATI-o37. 3:THEoDISTRICToCOMMISSIONERoANDoDISTRICToPLANNINGo COMMISSIONER oMGNREGA oDHUBRI oPOSToOFFICE-oDHUBRI o DISTRICT-oDHUBRI oASSAM o PIN-o783301. Page No.# 2/4 4:THE PROJECT DIRECTOR DRDA DHUBRI POST OFFICE- DHUBRI DISTRICT- DHUBRI ASSAM PIN- 783301. 5:THE BLOCK DEVELOPMENT OFFICER AND PROGRAMME OFFICER GAURIPUR DEVELOPMENT BLOCK DISTRICT- DHUBRI ASSAM PIN- 783331. 6:THE ASSISTANT ENGINEER GAURIPUR DEVELOPMENT BLOCK DHARMASHALA DISTRICT- DHUBRI ASSAM PIN- 783331. 7:THE SECRETARY DURAHATI GAON PANCHAYAT GAURIPUR DEVELOPMENT BLOCK DHARMASHALA DISTRICT- DHUBRI ASSAM PIN- 783331 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. M AHMED, MD I H LASKAR Advocate for the Respondent : SC, P AND R.D., GA, ASSAM Page No.# 3/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KAUSHIK GOSWAMI