Dismissed¶37

North Eastern Engineering and Associates v. the Union of India and 4 Ors.

Gauhati HC10 Nov 2025WP(C)/2799/2014

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Gauhati High Court, WP(C)/2799/2014, Devashis Baruah J., decided 11.11.2025 — Article 226 writ dismissed; subcontractor of NEFFS (contract dated 18.08.2010) claiming Rs.1,81,00,000/- held to have no privity with EPIL; private contractual/payment dispute not cognizable under Article 226 merely because dues allegedly flow from a State authority; dismissal without prejudice to civil recovery; limitation exclusion from 20.05.2014.

What did the court decide?

The petitioner did not have any contractual relationship with EPIL; the contractual relation, if any, of the petitioner is with NEFFS. ¶33

North Eastern Engineering and Associates Vs the Union… — Banking and Recovery | Gauhati HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Dismissed

¶37

Issue for consideration

Whether the extraordinary jurisdiction of the Court under Article 226 of the Constitution can be invoked to settle a private contractual dispute, by directing EPIL to pay the petitioner dues allegedly owed by NEFFS, in the absence of any contractual relationship between the petitioner and EPIL. +1 more

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Court's answer

The petitioner did not have any contractual relationship with EPIL; the contractual relation, if any, of the petitioner is with NEFFS.

¶33

Ratio / Principle

The extraordinary jurisdiction of the Court under Article 226 of the Constitution cannot be invoked to settle a private dispute on the ground that one of the parties is entitled to certain dues from an authority coming within the ambit of State.

¶34

Key takeaways

Since the petitioner's dispute is with NEFFS and it is unclear what amount NEFFS is entitled to from EPIL, the Court cannot pass any writ, direction or order in terms of the reliefs sought by the petitioner.ratio¶36
The dismissal of the present proceedings shall not prejudice the petitioner in any civil proceedings initiated for recovery from NEFFS.ratio¶38
As the petitioner had been bonafidely litigating before this Court, the period during which the instant proceedings remained pending, i.e. from 20.05.2014 till date, is to be excluded while computing the period of limitation.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution DISMISSED. The petitioner, engaged by NEFFS India Pvt. Ltd. under a contract dated 18.08.2010 for works forming part of the Lapetkata Gas Cracker Project of BCPL, sought a direction upon respondent No.2 (Engineering Projects India Ltd.) to release bills of Rs.1,81,00,000/- directly to it and a direction upon respondent No.3 (BCPL) to report pending bills. Held: (i) the petitioner had no contractual relationship with EPIL, its contract being with NEFFS; (ii) the extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 cannot be invoked to settle a private contractual dispute merely because the party allegedly owing the dues is an authority coming within the ambit of State; and (iii) it being unclear what amount, if any, NEFFS is entitled to from EPIL, no writ, direction or order could be passed in terms of the reliefs sought. Dismissal declared not to prejudice the petitioner in any civil proceedings for recovery from NEFFS; the period during which the proceedings remained pending (from 20.05.2014 till date) ordered to be excluded while computing limitation, the petitioner having litigated bonafide.

Page No.# 1/6

GAHC010247122014

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THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)

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Case No. : WP(C)/2799/2014

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NORTH EASTERN ENGINEERING AND ASSOCIATES ALAKANANDA APARTMENT, FLAT NO.4E, BYE LANE NO.1, TARUN NAGAR, GHY-5, REPRESENTED BY ITS MANAGING PARTNER DUL KUMAR DUTTA

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VERSUS

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THE UNION OF INDIA and 4 ORS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF INDIA, MINISTRY OF HEAVY INDUSTRIES, NEW DELHI

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2:GENERAL MANAGER ENGINEERING PROJECTS INDIA LTD. EPIL TRIPURA ROAD VASTAV BUILDING BELTOLA GUWAHATI

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3:THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER BRAHMAPUTRA CRACKER AND POLYMER LTD. BCPL PROJECTS LAPETKATA DIBRUGARH

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4:THE DIRECTOR NEFFS INDIA PVT. LTD. 2ND FLOOR SANMATI PLAZA ABC G.S.ROAD PIN-781005

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5:CHIEF MANAGING DIRECTOR

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ENGINEERING PROJECTS INDIA LTD. EPIL NEW DELH

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BEFORE

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HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH

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Advocate for the petitioner (s) : Mr. M. K. Sarma, Advocate Advocate for the respondent (s) : Mr. P. Goswami, Advocate Ms. P. Chakraborty, Advocate

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Date on which judgment is reserved : NA Date of pronouncement of judgment : 11.11.2025 Whether the pronouncement is of the Operative part of the judgment? : NA Whether the full judgment has been Pronounced? : Yes

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JUDGMENT AND ORDER (ORAL)

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Heard Mr. M. K. Sarma, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner. None appears on behalf of the respondent Nos.1 & 3 on call. Mr. P. Goswami, the learned counsel appears on behalf of the respondent Nos.2 & 5 and Ms. P. Chakraborty, the learned counsel appears on behalf of the respondent No.4.

¶21

The instant writ petition has been filed by the petitioner seeking a direction upon the respondent No.2 to release the bills amounting to Rs.1,81,00,000/- directly to the petitioner and further to direct the respondent No.3 to give a detailed report of the pending bills to the respondent No.2.

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The brief facts of the instant case are that the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL) requested the Engineering Projects India Limited (EPIL) to carry out certain project works in respect to the Gas Cracker Project of BCPL at Lapetkata. EPIL thereupon issued a Notice Inviting Tender wherein NEFFS India Private Limited (for short ‘NEFFS’) was granted a contract for completion of certain parts of the Lapetkata Gas Cracker Project of BCPL.

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It is further relevant to take note of that NEFFS which is a Private Limited Company entered into a contract with the petitioner for carrying out certain works on 18.08.2010. While the petitioner was carrying out the said work, the NEFFS terminated the said contract and it is alleged that NEFFS did not release the amount of Rs.1,81,00,000/- for the work carried out by the petitioner. The petitioner thereupon initially approached NEFFS for payment and having not been received due favourable response, approached EPIL for payment of the amount of Rs.1,81,00,000/- by submitting representation. The petitioner also submitted representation to the BCPL requesting for making payment of the amount to which the petitioner is entitled to. The petitioner had come to learn that the EPIL owes certain amount of money to NEFFS and out of the said amount, the petitioner should be paid its dues to the tune of Rs.1,81,00,000/-. However, neither BCPL nor EPIL took steps for releasing the said amount of Rs.1,81,00,000/- to the petitioner for

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which the present writ petition.

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The record reveals that the respondent No.4, i.e. NEFFS through its Director filed an affidavit-in-opposition challenging the maintainability of the writ petition on the ground that the dispute involved is a purely civil dispute. It was also mentioned that the respondent No.4 has been put to great difficulty on account of non release of funds by the EPIL thereby resulting in initiation of proceedings under the SARFAESI Act, 2002. It was also mentioned that there is an arbitration proceedings going on between EPIL, BCPL and the NEFFS.

¶28

The respondent Nos.2 & 5 also filed an affidavit-in-opposition wherein it was contended that on account of non-performance of work by the NEFFS, the EPIL terminated the contract on 15.03.2011. It was also stated that the petitioner by way of the instant writ petition has made an effort to make EPIL liable for payment of certain unpaid and unverified bills arising out of a work order between the petitioner and NEFFS to which EPIL was never a party. In addition to that, it was also mentioned that though certain payments were made directly by EPIL to the petitioner at the request of NEFFS, but the same could not create any form of contract between the petitioner and the EPIL.

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The record further reveals that the petitioner filed an additional affidavit bringing on record certain cheques which were being issued by EPIL to the petitioner. Reply there against was filed by the EPIL

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stating inter-alia that there is no contractual relationship between EPIL and the petitioner and the said payment of Rs.40 lakhs was made upon instructions of the respondent No.4, i.e. NEFFS. Another additional affidavit was filed on behalf of the respondent No.4 wherein it was mentioned that on account of the non-payment of the dues by the respondent Nos.2 & 5, the respondent No.4 was facing various proceedings before various Courts.

¶32

In the backdrop of the above pleadings, this Court duly heard the learned counsels appearing on behalf of the parties and the submission so made were in tune with the pleadings, and as such, this Court for the sake of brevity is not repeating the same.

¶33

Having heard the learned counsels appearing on behalf of the parties and having also perused the materials of record, it is apparent that the petitioner did not have any contractual relationship with EPIL. The contractual relation, if any, of the petitioner is with NEFFS. What the petitioner has tried to do by way of filing the present writ petition is on account of a purported breach of the contract by the NEFFS for non-payment of certain dues, the petitioner seeks appropriate directions upon the EPIL for payment of the said dues.

¶34

It is the opinion of this Court that the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution cannot be invoked to settle private dispute on the ground that one of the parties is entitled to certain dues from an authority coming within the ambit of State. In the instant case, the petitioner’s dispute is with NEFFS and

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the present proceedings is filed solely on the ground that EPIL allegedly owes some amount to NEFFS. It is also the unclear as to what amount the NEFFS is entitled from the EPIL. Under such circumstances, it is therefore the opinion of this Court that this Court cannot pass any writ, direction or order in terms with the relief(s) which have been sought for by the petitioner.

¶37

Accordingly, this Court does not find the present proceedings to be a fit proceedings for exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution for which the instant writ petition stands dismissed.

¶38

Before parting with the record, this Court finds it very pertinent to observe that the dismissal of the present proceedings shall not prejudice the petitioner in any civil proceedings initiated for recovery from NEFFS. Furthermore, as the petitioner had been bonafidely litigating before this Court, the period during which the instant proceedings have been pending, i.e. from 20.05.2014 till date, be excluded while computing the period of limitation.

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JUDGE

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Comparing Assistant

North Eastern Engineering and Associates v. the Union of India and 4 Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

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North Eastern Engineering and Associates v. the Union of India and 4 Ors.

Case brief

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What the court decided

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