Punjab and Haryana High Court: In a present petition filed under Article 226/227 of the Constitution seeking to direct the respondent to release the payment of running bill of the petitioner along with 18% interest from the date of bills till actual realization. Vinod S. Bhardwaj*, J., condemn the act and conduct of the respondents in unreasonably withholding the legitimate and admissible dues of the contractors. The Court directed respondent 5- Executive Engineer, Panchayati Raj, Public Works, Haryana, Mini Secretariat, Panchkula to take this petition as representation and pass a reasoned and speaking order within three months of the receipt of certified copy of this order, after giving appropriate opportunity of hearing to parties.
The Court imposed Rs.50,000/- cost on the respondent department which need to be deposited with the Poor Patients Welfare Fund, PGIMER, Chandigarh and the receipt for the same, need to submitted with the Registry of this Court within a period of one month from the receipt of the order.
Contentions:
The petitioner contended that he completed the allotted work well with the prescribed time, still the respondents have withheld his legitimate dues. Several request letters had been submitted to the respondents, however, the respondent had neither responded to any of them nor released the amount in question.
The petitioner further contended that the respondents were habitual of withholding the legitimate dues of the contractors without any cogent and valid reason, which unnecessarily forces the contractors to knock at the door of this court by filing repeated writ petition and compel them contractors to incur expenses for litigation.
The petitioner submitted that respondent 5 should be directed to treat the present petition as a representation and to consider and decide the same in a time bound manner.
Decision:
The Court after receiving no opposition from the respondent, directed respondent 5 to treat the present petition as a representation and to decide the matter by passing a reasoned and speaking order after giving affording opportunities of hearing to the parties within three months of the receipt of certified copy of this order. The Court also mention that, if any amount is found due and payable to the petitioner, the same should be disbursed in favour of the petitioner within a further period of three months.
The Court expressed, “its anguish and concern towards the act and conduct of the respondents in unreasonably withholding the legitimate and admissible dues of the contractors.”
The Court observed that, it had become a routine practice of the respondent to not release the due payments unless there is an order of the Court, Every week, this Court receives an average of 10-15 cases and in many such cases, the respondents had already admitted their liability and express inability to release the same due to paucity of funds, which not only burdens the Court with unnecessary litigation but also waste the precious time of the Court.
The Court imposed cost of Rs.50,000/- upon respondent department which need to deposited with the Poor Patients Welfare Fund, PGIMER, Chandigarh and the receipt thereof be submitted with the Registry of this Court within a period of one month from receipt of this order.
[Shashi Bhushan v. State of Haryana, 2024 SCC OnLine P&H 5265, decided on: 01-05-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For Petitioner: S.S. Chhoker, Advocate.
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