IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.12520 of 2021

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Anand Mishra Constructions Pvt Ltd, a company registered under the

provisions of the Companies Act having its registered and local office at

Village - Ramdas Baghai, P.O. - Baghai Bazar, P.S. - Kateya, District-

Gopalganj, through one of its authorized Director namely Anand Mishra, aged

about 46 years (Male), son of Sri Umesh Mishra, resident at Village - Ramdas

Baghai, P.O. - Baghai Bazar, P.S. - Kateya, District- Gopalganj- 841441.

... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

1.

The State of Bihar through the Principal Secretary, Rural Works Department,

Government of Bihar, Patna.

2.

The Principal Secretary, Rural Works Department, Government of Bihar,

Patna.

3.

The Engineer in Chief, Rural Works Department, Government of Bihar,

Patna.

4.

The Superintending Engineer, Rural Works Department, Work Circle Siwan.

5.

The Executive Engineer, Rural Works Department, Work Division

Gopalganj- I.

... ... Respondent/s

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Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s

:

Mr.Ashish Giri

For the Respondent/s

:

Mr.Kumar Alok, SC 7

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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR SINHA

ORAL JUDGMENT

Date : 31-08-2021

The present writ application has been filed for quashing

the letter no. 1894, dated 02.07.2021, issued by the Engineer-in-

chief, Rural Works Department, Government of Bihar (Annexure

3), by which the petitioner has been debarred from participating in

future contract/tender, for the reason of non-completion of the

contract of construction of road, awarded to the petitioner, within

time.

Patna High Court CWJC No.12520 of 2021 dt.31-08-2021

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2. The fact involved in the present case is that the

petitioner is a Class-I contractor, registered under the provisions of

the Bihar Contractor Registration Rules, 2007 and was awarded

various contract works by the respondent-Rural Works

Department, for construction of road and according to the

petitioner, it proceeded to complete the work as per the agreement,

but due to intervening COVID-19 pandemic, which led to

lockdown and imposition of various restrictions by the

Government, the petitioner faced difficulties in timely completing

the work. Further contention of the petitioner is that while the

work was being executed, despite delay due to the lockdown and

COVID-19 pandemic, yet prior to completion date, the

respondent-Executive Engineer, Rural Works Department, Work

Division, Gopalganj-I, vide letter no. 1183, dated 14.06.2021, took

a unilateral decision and recommended for debarment of the

petitioner due to non-completion of awarded contract work within

time. Accordingly, the petitioner, vide his letters, dated 18.06.2021

and 19.06.2021, represented before the respondents-Executive

Engineer, Rural Works Department, Work Division, Hathua and

the respondent-Executive Engineer, Rural Works Department,

Work Division, Gopalganj-I, that the petitioner suffered delay due

to COVID-19 pandemic and due to extreme rainfall, which led to

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the water logging at the construction site and requested for

extension of time till October, 2021 (Annexures 4 and 4A).

3. Taking into consideration the representations of the

petitioner, the respondent-Executive Engineer, Rural Works

Department, Work Division, Gopalganj-I, vide his letter, dated

21.06.2021 (Annexure 5), informed the Superintendent Engineer,

Rural Works Department, Work Division, Siwan, that the

Department has granted extension of time to the contractors for 90

days due to COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Further, before

the expiry of said 90 days extended period given to the contractors

by the Department, the respondent no. 3-Engineer-in-Chief, Rural

Works Depar