M/S Ucn Construction Co Pvt Limited v. The State of Assam and 5 Ors

ORDER

12.11.2024

Heard Mr. B. Das, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Ms. R. Deka, learned Page No.# 3/5 counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Ms. J. Gogoi, learned counsel for the respondent nos.4 & 6.

¶2The petitioner's case is that pursuant to a Short Notice Inviting Tender dated 06.05.2014 issued by the respondent no.2, the petitioner was selected as the successful tenderer pertaining to one of the project works, namely "Improvement of Lanka Garampani (LG) Road (Portion from Ch.0.00M to Ch.14000.00M) under RIDF-XIX of NABARD bearing Package No. Dima-Has/RIDF-XIX/B-II/12".

¶3The petitioner completed the project work on 02.07.2016 and after expiry of the defect liability period, the petitioner made a claim for release of the security deposit amount of Rs.79,99,111/-. The petitioner received an amount of Rs.25,05,040/-, out of the total security deposit amount leaving a balance amount of Rs.54,94,071/-. The petitioner's counsel submits that the said balance amount has not been paid to the petitioner till date.

¶4Ms. J. Gogoi, learned counsel for the respondent nos.4 & 6, by relying upon the affidavit-in-opposition filed on behalf of the respondent no.4, submits that the Accountant General (Audit), Assam, PA-RIDF Audit Camp-Haflong, vide letter dated 03.08.2018, has deducted Rs.16.55 lakhs from the balance amount payable to the petitioner on account of Forest Royalty, Value Added Tax and Income Tax on Forest Royalty. She submits that the petitioner would now be liable to receive Rs.38,39,071.

¶5I have heard the learned counsels for the parties. Page No.# 4/5

¶6Paragraph 9 & 10 of the affidavit-in-opposition filed by the respondent nos.4 are reproduced hereinbelow, as follows : "9. That, with regards to the statements made in paragraph 5 and 6 of the writ petition. the deponent begs to state that the total outstanding Security Deposit Money claim of the petitioner was Rs.79,99,111/- (Rupees Seventy-nine lakhs ninety-nine thousand one hundred eleven) only. However, due to the onset of Covid pandemic, the release of the Security Deposit money could not be processed and an amount of Rs. 25,05,040/- (Rupees Twenty-five lakhs five thousand forty) only was released to the petitioner on 27.01.2023. The remaining Rs. 54,94,071/- (Rupees Fifty-four lakhs ninety-four seventy-one) only was, however, not drawn from the ceiling in any shape and was not deposited into the Head of Account by challan due to oversight. The Additional Chief Engineer PWD (R&B) Hills, Assam Haflong has placed a demand for Rs. 54,94,711 ( Fifty four lakhs ninety four thousand seven hundred eleven only) before the Chief Engineer, PWD (Roads) Assam, Chandmari, Guwahati. Copy of the letter dated 5/8/24 is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure 1.

¶10That, with regards to the statements made in paragraph 7 of the writ petition the deponent begs to state that an audit objection was raised by Accountant General (Audit), Assam, PA-RIDF Audit camp-Haflong, vide letter no. POS No. 2 dated 03.08.2018 for Rs. 16.55 Lakhs pertaining to short deduction of Forest Royalty (Rs. 9.51 Lakhs), Value Added Tax (Rs. 5.94 Lakhs) and Income Tax on Forest Royalty (Rs. 1.10 Lakhs), the recovery of which was affected from security deposit money. As a result of this, the release of the remaining amount of Security Deposit money i.e. Rs. 54,94,071 could not be processed."

¶7The submissions made by the counsels for the parties and the averments made in the affidavit filed by the respondent no.4 clearly show that the respondents have admitted to the fact that they are liable to pay to the Page No.# 5/5 petitioner, the security deposit amounting to Rs.38,39,071/-.

¶8In view of the above, the respondents are directed to pay the said admitted amount to the petitioner, within a period of 3 (three) months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.

¶9Liberty is being given to the petitioner to approach appropriate forum for recovery of the unadmitted amount, if so advised.

¶10Writ petition is accordingly disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010150772024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/3828/2024o M/SoUCNoCONSTRUCTIONoCOoPVToLIMITEDo AoPRIVATEoLIMITEDoCOMPANYoREGISTEREDoUNDERoTHEoCOMPANIESo ACT,o1956o HAVINGoITSoREGISTEREDoOFFICEoAToR.K.oPATH,oITACHALI,oNAGAON,o ASSAM,o782001,o REPRESENTEDoBYoITSoMANAGINGoDIRECTOR,oPIYUSHoKUMARoNAHATA,o AGEDoABOUTo41oYEARS,o S/O-oSHRIoMANAKoSHANDoNAHATA,o RESIDENToOFoR.oK.oPATH,oITACHALI,oPIN-o782003. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo5oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoITSoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSPECIALoSECRETARY,o PUBLICoWORKSoDEPARTMENT,o GOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,o ASSAMoSACHIVALAYA,oDISPUR,o P.O.-oASSAMoSACHIVALAYA,o DISTRICT-oKAMRUP(M),oASSAM,o GUWAHATI-o781006. 2:THEoCHIEFoENGINEER oPUBLICoWORKSoDEPARTMENTo(ROADS) oCHANDMARI oGUWAHATI-o781003 o DISTRICT-oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM. 3:THEoCHIEFoENGINEER oPUBLICoWORKSoDEPARTMENTo(BORDERoROADSoANDoNECoWORKS) oCHANDMARI Page No.# 2/5 GUWAHATI- 781003 DISTRICT- KAMRUP(M) ASSAM. FORMERLY KNOWN AS PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT ARIASP AND RIDF ASSAM CHANDMARI GUWAHATI- 781003. 4:THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER P.W.D. HAFLONG ROAD DIVISION P.O.- HAFLONG PIN- 788819 DISTRICT- DIMA HASAO ASSAM. 5:THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY FINANCE DEPARTMENT GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM DISPUR GUWAHATI- 781006. 6:THE TREASURY OFFICER HAFLONG P.O.- HAFLONG DISTRICT- DIMA HASAO ASSAM PIN- 788819 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR B D DAS, MR J LOTHA,MR. H R DAS,MRS R DEKA Advocate for the Respondent : SC, PWD ROAD, SC, NCHAC,SC, FINANCE DEPTT. BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MICHAEL ZOTHANKHUMA