The court directed the disbursement of an admitted outstanding amount of Rs. 7,08,896/- to the petitioners after the respondent authorities acknowledged the liability in their affidavit.

ORDER

Date :

Heard Mr. N.N.B. Choudhury, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners. Ms. G. Bora, the learned Standing Counsel appears on behalf of the Agriculture Department and Mr. S. Chamaria, the learned Standing Counsel appears on behalf of the Assam Seeds Corporation Limited.

2. The instant writ petition has been filed being aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the Respondent Authorities in not making payment of the admitted amount of Rs.7,08,896/- to the petitioners.

3. The petitioner No. 1 is a proprietorship firm in the name and style of “Farmer’s World”, and the petitioner No. 2 is the proprietor of the said firm. The case of the petitioners, in brief, is that pursuant to a tender process initiated by an e-Tender Notice dated 05.02.2019, the petitioners having emerged successful, was issued a Supply Order on 23.11.2020 for supply of ‘Summer Hybrid Vegetable Seeds’ as per specification mentioned in Annexure-1 and Annexure-2 thereof. As per Annexure-2, the total amount for supply was mentioned as Rs. 13,27,520/-. According to the petitioners, the petitioners had duly supplied the Summer Hybrid Vegetable Seeds in terms with the Supply Order dated 23.11.2020 and thereafter, submitted bill for the said amount. It is the further case of the petitioners that the petitioners had only been disbursed a part-payment of Rs. 6,18,624/- and an amount of Rs. 7,08,896/- is still pending for disbursal. Seeking a direction to the Respondent Authorities to disburse the balance amount of Rs. 7,08,896/- immediately, the petitioners have approached this Court by the instant writ petition.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners, on several occasions, approached the Respondent Authorities for payment of the aforesaid amount due to the petitioners for the successful delivery of “Summer Hybrid Vegetable Seeds”. However, for reasons best known to the authorities, although assurances were made from time to time to release the payment, no payment of the outstanding amount has been made.

5. The records reveal that vide order dated 23.03.2026, notice was issued. It is further seen that the respondent Nos. 4 and 5 have filed an affidavit-in-opposition wherein at paragraph No. 10, they have duly admitted that an amount of Rs. 7,08,896/- is outstanding and payable to the petitioners. Paragraph No. 10 of the said affidavit-in-opposition filed by respondent Nos. 4 and 5, being relevant, is reproduced hereinbelow:

“10. That with regard to the statement made in paragraph (9) of the Writ Petition, the respondent begs to state that the petitioner had submitted bills along with challans to Assam Seeds Corporation Ltd. amounting Rs. 13,27,520.00 (Excluding Corporation margin) against Supply order no. ASC/MKT/DM/SO/2019-20/8671 Dated. 23/11/2020. Assam Seeds Corporation Ltd. submitted a fund demand of Rs. 31,29,52,217.00 (inclusive of the petitioner's bill amount) to the Director of Agriculture, Assam, for the supply of seeds against all indents received, including those pertaining to the petitioner. Subsequently, the Director of Agriculture released Rs. 21,48,29,300.00 to Assam Seeds Corporation Ltd., and payments were made to the respective suppliers accordingly. In this context, it is submitted that the fund release order issued by the Director of Agriculture clearly specified the indents against which payments were to be made. With reference to Indent No. Agri/Dev- Crop/FDR/DM/2020-21/54 dated 09.11.2020, as cited by the petitioner, the Corporation had submitted a bill amounting to Rs. 4,78,77,922.67 (including the Corporation's margin) to the Director of Agriculture, Assam, vide Bill No. W004 dated 13.08.2021. However, against the total billed