Punj Kumar Singh v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.6005 of 2022 ====================================================== Punj Kumar Singh Son of Ram Ballabh Prasad Singh, resident of Near Suraksha Clinic, Hetli Bandh, Jharia, P.S. Jharia, District Dhanbad, Jharkhand 828111.

... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

1.

The State of Bihar through the Commissioner-Cum-Principal Secretary, Department of Mines and Geology, Government of Bihar, Vikas Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna 800001.

2.

The Principal Secretary cum Commissioner Mines, Department of Mines and Geology, Government of Bihar, Vikas Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna - 800001.

3.

The Director, Mines and Geology Department, Government of Bihar, Vikas Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna.

4.

The Deputy Director, Mines and Geology, Government of Bihar, Vikas Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna.

5.

The District Magistrate-cum-Collector, Bhojpur, Ara. 6.

The Mineral Develoment Officer, Bhojpur, Ara. 7.

The District Certificate Officer cum District Rural Development Authority, Bhojpur.

8.

The District Certificate Officer cum District Panchayati Raj Officer, Bhojpur.

9.

The District Certificate Office cum District Transport Officer, Bhojpur. ... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr. Suraj Samdarshi For the Respondent/s :

Mr. Gyan Prakash Ojha ( GA 7 ) ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MOHIT KUMAR SHAH ORAL ORDER (Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA) 16-05-2022 A notice has been issued to the petitioner under Section 7 of the Bihar & Orissa Public Demand Recovery Act, 1914 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act 1914') for recovery of certain dues.

The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Company i.e. M/s Broad Son Commodities Pvt. Ltd., of which the petitioner was one of the Directors has already filed its

Patna High Court CWJC No.6005 of 2022(2) dt.16-05-2022 2/2 objection under Section 9 of the Act, 1914 but no decision has been taken thereon, till now. It is stated before the Court that the petitioner be also allowed to file his objections, however, liberty be granted to raise preliminary objection regarding maintainability of the certificate proceedings qua the petitioner herein inasmuch as he had resigned from the Directorship of the said Company on 22.04.2019.

We thus dispose off this writ petition with liberty to the petitioner to file his objections within a period of four weeks from today and as soon as the objections are filed and pleadings are complete, the Certificate Officer shall take a decision in terms of Section 10 of the Act, 1914, at the earliest, in any case, not later than four months. The Certificate Officer shall also be at liberty to decide any preliminary objection raised before him by the petitioner regarding maintainability of the certificate proceedings.

Till then, no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner.

(Rajan Gupta, J) ( Mohit Kumar Shah, J) Anjani/- U