M/S Supreme Security Guard And ANR. v. The Deputy Commissioner And ANR.

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

[ CIRCUIT BENCH AT PORT BLAIR ] ...

WPA/195/2022 M/S Supreme Security Guard and another ... Petitioner Vs.

The Deputy Commissioner and another ... Respondent Mr. S.K.Golder ... for the petitioner Mr. Shatadru Chakraborty Mr. Ramendu Agrawal Mr. Vikash Tiwari ... for the respondent August 25, 2022 [AKB] Item No.27 Being aggrieved by the inaction and non action on the part of the respondent Nos. 1 and 2 to release payment pertaining to final bill of Rs. 4,17,690/- in respect of the work order dated 10.02.2016 and 28.06.2016 and oral request thereafter for the month of August and September 2016 made by the respondent authorities, the petitioner has preferred this writ application under Section 226 of the Constitution of India.

It has been contended by the petitioner that the petitioner firm has raised final bill in last quarter of 2016 before the respondent authorities and thereafter followed up on several occasions and lastly sent representation before the respondent no.1 on 21.08.2021 to clear the

payment for the services rendered by the petitioner firm. However, the respondents authorities have always asked the petitioner to wait for sometime and have not yet cleared the final bill of the tune of Rs.4,17,690/- nor they have disposed of his representation dated 21.08.2021 till date. Petitioner further submits that due to pandemic of COVID-19 the petitioner firm has been badly affected and in the absence of the payment from the respondent authorities the petitioners are facing great difficulty in running the business for livelihood.

Accordingly, the petitioner has prayed for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus to make proper direction upon the respondent authorities.

Mr. Shatadru Chakraborty appearing on behalf of the respondents submits that the payment pertaining to final bill amounting to Rs. 4,17,690/- in terms of representation dated 21.08.2021 is hopelessly barred by limitation and as such, the petitioner's prayer for said payment is not maintainable in the eye of law. Having considered the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case the writ petition being WPA/195/2022 is hereby disposed of with a direction upon the respondent authorities to dispose of the

petitioner's representation dated 21.08.2021 within a period of four weeks from the date of communication of the order. It is to be made clear that all the points including the points of limitation shall be kept open at the time of disposal of the representation dated 21.08.2021 and after disposal the respondent authorities shall communicate the decision to the petitioner within a period of one week from the date of disposal. There shall be no order as to costs.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, shall be supplied to the parties upon compliance of all formalities.

(Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee, J.)