Krishna Chauhan v. The State of Assam and 5 Ors

ORDER Date : 12.06.2023

Heard Mr. A.K. Hussain, learned counsel for the petitioner, Ms. S. Sarma, learned Govt. advocate appearing for respondent nos. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Ms. S. Chutia, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Mr. P. Nayak, learned standing counsel for respondent no.2.

¶2At the outset, the learned Govt. advocate has prayed for some more time to obtain instruction, which is still awaited despite several letters including last letter issued on 19.05.2023.

¶3In brief, the case of the petitioner is that he owns vehicle bearing registration no. AS02T4251, which was requisitioned by the respondent no.4. It is claimed that the requisition was illegal because at the relevant time the vehicle was parked at the residence of the petitioner and the vehicle was retained by the respondent no.4 i.e Superintendent of Police, Hojai from

01.08.2017 to 10.04.2022. It is claimed that the petitioner was given a part payment. However, despite making the part payment, an outstanding amount of Page No.# 3/4 Rs.18,47,810/- is still due, which has not been paid despite requests and reminders.

¶4In this case, notice of motion was issued by order dated 25.05.2022, but till date, the respondents have not denied their liability and no affidavit-in-opposition has been filed to dispute the claim made in this writ petition. Therefore, the Court is compelled to reject the prayer made by the learned Govt. advocate for some more time and by drawing the doctrine of non-traverse, it is deemed that the respondents have jointly and severally admitted the claim of the petitioner to the extent of Rs.18,47,810/- for part hire charges of the vehicle from 01.08.2017 to 10.04.2022.

¶5Accordingly, the Court is inclined to provide that it would be open to the Superintendent of Police, Hojai (respondent no.2) to make an enquiry about genuineness of the claim of the petitioner and the admitted amount shall be released to the petitioner within an outer limit of 3(three) months from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the order by his office.

¶6The petitioner shall produce a certified copy of this order along with fresh copy of the bills statement and proof of part payment made to the petitioner and shall provide his e-mail address and/ or mobile number containing messaging application such as WhatsApp, Telegaram, etc.

¶7The petitioner is permitted to also serve a certified copy of this order on the Director General of Police (respondent no.3) to bring this order to the notice of the said authority.

¶8With the aforesaid observation, this writ petition stands disposed of.

Page No.# 4/4 JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010091822022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/3191/2022o KRISHNAoCHAUHANo S/O-oRAMAYANoCHAUHAN,oR/O-oKHARIKHANA,oP.O.oKHARIKHANA,oP.S.o LANKA,oDIST.oHOJAI,oASSAM,oPIN-o782446. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo5oORSo THROUGHoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENTo OFoASSAM,oHOMEoDEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI-781006. 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oFINANCEoDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-781006. 3:THEoDIRECTORoGENERALoOFoPOLICE oASSAM oULUBARI oGUWAHATI-7. 4:THEoSUPERINTENDENToOFoPOLICE oHOJAI oSANKARDEVoNAGAR oDIST.oHOJAI oASSAM 5:MOTORoTRANSPORToOFFICERo(MTO) oOFFICEoOFoTHEoDIRECTORoGENERALoOFoPOLICE oASSAM oULUBARI oGUWAHATI-7. Page No.# 2/4 6:MOTOR TRANSPORT OFFICER (MTO) POLICE RESERVE SANKARDEV NAGAR DIST. HOJAI ASSAM PIN- 782442 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. A K HUSSAIN Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KALYAN RAI SURANA