The court emphasized that the decisions regarding the release of payment to contractors should align with the terms and conditions of the agreement and should not be unilaterally imposed after the execution of the agreement.

JUDGMENT :

The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon the respondents to forthwith release the outstanding dues of the petitioner for construction work of Samudayik Toilets in Ward No. 12 (old) / 14 (new) as well as in Ward No. 13 (old) / 15 (new), both under Municipal Corporation, Adityapur (hereinafter referred to as ‘the said work’) as the petitioner has already completed the said work within the stipulated time as per the terms and conditions of the agreements both dated 18.06.2018 and the constructed sites have also been handed over to the respondents. Further prayer has been made for quashing part of the minutes of the 7th Board Meeting dated 27.08.2019 of the Adityapur Municipal Corporation presided over by the Mayor, Adityapur Municipal Corporation whereby a unilateral decision has been taken that payment of the bills of the contractors will be made only after recommendations of the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and the concerned Ward Councillor of Adityapur Municipal Corporation.

2. The factual background of the case, as stated in the writ petition, is that the petitioner, who is a proprietorship firm, was allotted the said work having agreement value of Rs.23,96,892/- for each work. The agreements for the said work were executed separately between the petitioner and the respondent No.4 on 18.06.2018 and the work orders as contained in letter Nos. 2029 & 2030 both dated 26.06.2018 were also issued under the signature of the respondent No.4. The petitioner completed the said work within the stipulated period in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract and thereafter submitted the final bills after verification made by Junior Engineer, Assistant Engineer, Executive Engineer and Special Officer of the Adityapur Municipal Corporation. The respondent authorities, after being satisfied with the construction made by the petitioner, took over the site and also put it for public use. However, they did not pay the bills of the petitioner, rather in the 6th Board Meeting dated 23.01.2019 presided over by the Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Adityapur, decided to debar the petitioner from participating in future bids of the respondent-Corporation and proposal was sent to the Department of Urban Development and Housing, Government of Jharkhand for blacklisting it. Accordingly, an order as contained in memo No. 208 dated 25.01.2019 was issued by the respondent No.4 whereby the petitioner was debarred from participating in future bids. The petitioner challenged the said decision of the respondent No.4 by filing a writ petition being W.P.(C) No. 1415 of 2019 before this Court wherein vide order dated 16.04.2019, part of the order by which the petitioner was held to be not eligible for participating in future bids, was quashed and the matter was remanded to the competent authority of the respondent-Corporation to issue show cause notice to the petitioner specifying the allegation/irregularity leveled against it. Thereafter, the respondent No.4 issued show cause notice to the petitioner vide letter No. 1605 dated 30.05.2019 which was replied by the petitioner demanding a copy of the complaint filed against it by Sri Nathuni Singh, Ward Councillor of Ward No. 15, Adityapur Municipal Corporation also stating that the petitioner is a registered contractor under the Urban Development Department, Government of Jharkhand against whom any action can only be taken under Jharkhand Nagarpalika Samvedak Nibandhan Niyamavali, 2016 and the Board of Adityapur Municipal Corporation has no jurisdiction to debar a contractor from participating in the tender, until the contractor is blacklisted by the Urban Development Department. Thereafter, the petitioner filed various representations before the respondent authorities along with copies of measurement book and bills duly verified by Junior Engineer, Assistant Engineer, Executive Engineer and Special Officer of the Adityapur Municipal Corporation, however, the responden