Where state authorities admit liability for services rendered, the court may exercise its writ jurisdiction to direct the disbursement of the admitted amount within a specified timeframe to ensure the fulfillment of contractual obligations and prevent financial hardship to the service provider.

JUDGMENT AND ORDER :

DEVASHIS BARUAH, J.

Heard Mr. A. Deka, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner and Mr. K. Gogoi, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State Respondents.

2. The case of the Petitioner herein is that the Petitioner is engaged in the business of providing vehicles for hire across the State of Assam to various Government as well as private organizations. It is the case of the Petitioner that one Maruti Gypsy vehicle bearing Registration No.AS-01-DR-4194 belonging to the Petitioner was hired by the Respondent Authorities during the year 2022 to 2024 for different periods and the rate of hire charge of the said vehicle was fixed by the Respondent Authorities as per the Notification dated 06.02.2014 issued by the Transport Department of the Government of Assam which is enclosed as Annexure-1 to the writ petition. It is further stated that the said vehicle was deployed and utilized by the Respondent Authorities for the period starting from 01.01.2022 to 30.06.2022, 01.07.2022 to 31.12.2022, 01.01.2023 to 31.03.2023, 01.12.2023, to 31.12.2023, and 01.01.2024 to 31.12.2024. The Petitioner claims hire charges/requisition compensation amounting to Rs.8,40,879/- as admitted by the Respondent Authorities. However, the said amount has not been disbursed to him till date.

3. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner submitted that the Petitioner has been pursuing the matter diligently with the Respondents, but the Respondent Authorities have not shown any interest in making the payment of the admitted amount of Rs.8,40,879/- due to the Petitioner for which the Petitioner is facing hardship. The learned counsel for the Petitioner further submitted that the Respondent Authorities have failed to discharge their duty in accordance with law and the same has caused prejudice to the Petitioner. Hence, the Petitioner has approached this Court by filing the instant writ petition.

4. Mr. K. Gogoi, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondents has placed before this Court a communication dated 16.12.2025 issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Guwahati which is kept on record and marked with the letter “X”. From a perusal of the said communication, it is seen that the Respondent Authorities have duly admitted their liability of an amount of Rs.7,53,036/- The details can be seen in paragraph Nos.5 & 6 of the said communication dated 16.12.2025 which being relevant is reproduced herein under:-

“5. That with regard to the statement made in paragraph-5 of the writ petition, the answering deponent begs to state as follows:-

The petitioner has claimed an amount of Rs. 8,40,879/- as outstanding dues. Considering the claim made by the petitioner, the matter needs to be examined to ascertain the correctness of the bill's status. Accordingly, the records available were examined which reveal that: -

(i) Though the petitioner has claimed Rs. 8,40,879/- as outstanding dues, but from the examination it reveals that the petitioner has claimed an excess amount of Rs. 87,843/-. Thus, the actual claimed as per the records available is Rs.7,53,036/-.

(ii) That 8 No's of bills amounting to Rs. 7,53,036/- have already been forwarded to the sanctioning authority i.e. Assam Police Headquarter to accord approval of sanction as well as allotment of fund. The details of the bills are as follows:-

Proposal No.2223-2227 (RV) dated 31.10.2025

Proposal No.3374-3376 (RV) DATED 09.12.2025

The matter relating to the release of fund against the proposal amount of Rs.5,01,754/- and Rs.2,51,282/- respectively are always depend upon the Govt., which are yet to be received a