Kurian Joseph, J.

" CONTRACTORS' BILL" is not an unfamiliar subject to this High Court for quite some time. There are two reported Bench decisions of this Court on the subject. The first one is reported in Anirudhan v. State of Kerala (1999 (2) K L J 252) and the other is reported in State of Kerala v. K.P.W.S.W.L.C. Co-operative Society Limited (AIR 2001 Kerala 60). In the former case, the only defence of State was of financial difficulty. Considering the financial position explained in the affidavit filed by the State and particulars furnished in the additional statement dated 23.6.99, the Government [was granted four months time atleast for making payments to the Contractors who had filed Original Petitions on or before 23.6.99 against the final bills submitted by them excluding the Original Petitions filed by the Associations/Union of Contractors. There was also a direction to make payments in the remaining cases strictly in accordance with the seniority of the bills under the respective head of accounts and subject to availability of funds, on the principle 'first done first paid'.

2. Coming to the latter decision, it may be seen that it is a case where the State fil