Ajay Kumar Singh Vs the State of Assam and 6 Ors. — Writ and Judicial Review | Gauhati HC (2026)

Ajay Kumar Singh Vs the State of Assam and 6 Ors. — Writ and Judicial Review | Gauhati HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Direction to the Respondent Authorities to pay the admitted amount of Rs.1,08,05,957/- (or such amount after statutory deductions) within 6 (six) months from service of a certified copy of the judgment upon Respondent No.3 (Director General of Police, Assam), with any amounts paid during the pendency of the proceedings to be set off at disbursal.

Issue for consideration

Whether the Respondent Authorities are liable to pay the outstanding hire charge dues of the Petitioner for the 12 vehicles hired by them, which stand admitted at Rs.1,08,05,957/-.

Ratio / Principle

Upon perusal of the record, the Respondents stand admitted to the extent that the Petitioner is presently entitled to Rs.1,08,05,957/- towards outstanding hire charges.

Key takeaways

The Respondent Authorities are directed to pay the Petitioner the admitted amount of Rs.1,08,05,957/- or such amount after statutory deductions.ratio¶52
The payment exercise is to be completed within a period of 6 (six) months from the date a certified copy of the judgment is served upon Respondent No.3, the Director General of Police, Assam.ratio¶53
Any amount paid during the pendency of the proceedings shall be set off at the time of disbursal of the amounts to the Petitioner.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India — non-payment of vehicle hire charges by Assam police authorities. The Petitioner, owner of 12 vehicles, was hired through joint orders issued by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup Metropolitan District, Guwahati and the Motor Transport Officer, Office of the Police Commissionerate, Guwahati, for maintaining law and order in Assam. Hire charge bills of Rs.1,52,74,203/- for the period 2019 to March, 2024 were submitted and duly received but not paid. In its affidavit-in-opposition, Respondent No.5 stated that Rs.44,70,114/- had already been paid, leaving an admitted outstanding of Rs.1,08,05,957/-, with the balance bills scrutinised and forwarded to the Assam Police Headquarters for sanction and allotment of funds through four proposals dated 09-07-2025. Held, disposing of the writ petition, the Respondent Authorities were directed to pay the admitted amount of Rs.1,08,05,957/- or such amount after statutory deductions within 6 (six) months from service of a certified copy of the judgment upon Respondent No.3, the Director General of Police, Assam; any amount paid during the pendency of the proceedings was to be set off at the time of disbursal.

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GAHC010092252025

2026:GAU-AS:6416

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

Case No. : WP(C)/2518/2025

AJAY KUMAR SINGH

S/O- LATE RAM CHANDRA SINGH, R/O- SWASTIK VILLA, HOUSE NO. 43, A.P.R.O. LANE, B.K. KAKATI ROAD, ULUBARI, GUWAHATI, P.O. ULUBARI, P.S. PALTANBAZAR, DIST. KAMRUP(M), ASSAM, PIN- 781007.

VERSUS

THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 6 ORS.

REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF ASSAM, HOME AND POLITICAL DEPARTMENT, DISPUR, P.O. ASSAM SACHIVALAYA, DISTRICTKAMRUP (M), ASSAM, PIN- 781007.

2:THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF ASSAM FINANCE DEPARTMENT DISPUR P.O. ASSAM SACHIVALAYA DISTRICT- KAMRUP (M0 ASSAM PIN- 781006.

3:THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE ASSAM ULUBARI GUWAHATI P.O. ULUBARI P.S. PALTANBAZAR DISTRICT- KAMRUP METRO ASSAM-781007.

4:THE ADDITIONAL DEPUTY COMMISSIONER KAMRUP METROPOLITAN DISTRICT GUWAHATI-CUM-THE ADDITIONAL DISTRICT MAGISTRATE KAMRUP

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(METROPOLITAN) DISTRICT GUWAHATI P.O. HENGRABARI P.S. DISPUR DIST. KAMRUP (METRO) ASSAM PIN- 781036. 5:THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE GUWAHATI CITY GUWAHATI P.O. KHANAPARA P.S. DISPUR DIST. KAMRUP METRO ASSAM PIN- 781022. 6:THE ASSISTANT INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE (ADMN) ASSAM POLICE HEADQUARTERS ULUBARI GUWAHATI PO ULUBARI PS PALTANBAZAR DISTRICT KAMRUP METRO ASSAM PIN- 781007. 7:THE MOTOR TRANSPORT OFFICER OFFICE OF THE POLICE COMMISSIONERATE GUWAHATI RUPNAGAR PO RUPNAGAR PS PALTANBAZAR DISTRICT KAMRUP METRO ASSAM PIN- 781032

BEFORE

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH

For the Petitioner(s) : Mr. S. K. Sinha, Advocate

For the Respondent(s) : Mr. G. Bokolial, Government Advocate

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Date on which Judgment was reserved : N/A

Date of Pronouncement of Judgment : 11.05.2026

Whether the pronouncement is of the Operative Part of the Judgment : No

Whether the full Judgment has been Pronounced : Yes

JUDGMENT AND ORDER (ORAL)

Heard Mr. S. K. Sinha, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner and Mr. G. Bokolial, the learned Government Advocate appearing on behalf of the Respondents.

The instant petition has been filed by the Petitioner being aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the Respondent Authorities in not making payment of the bills of the Petitioner.

The Petitioner herein is the owner of 12 (twelve) vehicles bearing Registration Nos. AS-01-DP-2024 (Bolero), AS-01-EE-4373 (Tata Safari), AS-01-DF-7480 (Tata Safari), AS-01-HC-1274 (Tata Safari), AS-01-BN-0039 (Tata Sumo), AS-01-DQ-5301 (M/Van), AS01-DP-6053 (Scorpio), AS-01-EQ-5909 (M/Van), AS-01-DP-1325 (M/Van), AS-01-FP-1898 (Eco), AS-01-FG-9884 (Scorpio) and AS01-HC-6024 (M/Van). It is the case of the Petitioner that the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup Metropolitan District, Guwahati, along with the Motor Transport Officer, Office of the

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Police Commissionerate, Guwahati, jointly issued several orders hiring the said 12 vehicles for public service purposes, namely, for maintaining law and order in the State of Assam.

The learned counsel for the Petitioner submitted that, thereafter, the Petitioner submitted hire charge bills amounting to Rs.1,52,74,203/- in respect of the aforesaid hired vehicles for the period from 2019 to March, 2024, along with the necessary documents, before the Respondent authorities and the same were duly received by the concerned Authorities. However, the said amount has not yet been paid to the Petitioner.

The learned counsel for the Petitioner submitted that the bill amount of Rs.1,52,74,203/- has been duly admitted by the Respondent Authorities; however, despite such admission, the said amount has not been released. In addition thereto, the learned counsel for the Petitioner further submitted that the Petitioner had also submitted several representations before the Respondent Authorities seeking release of the aforesaid bill amount, however the said amount is still pending, for which the Petitioner has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

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An affidavit-in-opposition has been filed by Respondent No. 5. In the said affidavit-in-opposition, it has been stated that, out of the total amount of Rs.1,52,74,203/-, the Petitioner has already received an amount of Rs. 44,70,114/-. Accordingly, the outstanding liability presently stands at Rs.1,08,05,957/- instead of Rs.1,52,74,203/-. Paragraph Nos. 8 and 10 of the said affidavit-inopposition being relevant for the purpose of the instant case are reproduced herein below:

“ 8. That with regard to the statement made in paragraph No.7 of the writ petition the deponent begs to state that the petitioner has claimed total outstanding dues of Rs. 1,52,74,203/- (Rupees One Crore Fifty Two Lakhs Seventy Four thousand Two hundred and Three) only payable for hiring of the vehicles. Considering the claim of huge outstanding dues, the matters need to be examined with the concerned available records as well as bills to ascertain the correctness.

The facts reveal are as follows.

(I) The examination of records reveal that petitioner has claimed a deficit amount of Rs. 1868/- against the claimed amount of Rs. 1,52,74,203/(Rupees One Crore Fifty Two Lakhs Seventy Four thousand Two hundred and Three) only.

(II) The examination of the records as well as hire charges bills received from the petitioner, it is found that out of the total claim of Rs. 1,52,74,203/- (Rupees One Crore Fifty Two Lakhs Seventy Four thousand Two hundred and Three) only petitioner had received an

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amount of Rs. 44,70,114/- (Rupees Forty Four Lakhs Seventy thousand One hundred and Fourteen) only.

(III) The rest bills amounting to Rs. 1,08,05,957/- (Rupees One Crore Eight Lakh Five thousand Nine hundred and Fifty Seven) only have been scrutinized with the available records and forwarded to the Assam Police Headquarters after observing required formalities to accord approval of sanction and allotment of fund against each proposal amount. The details of the proposals forwarded against the bills received on account of hiring of the above noted 12 vehicles during the period are as follows:

(A) Proposal No. 1372-1388 (RV) dated 09-07-2025 amounting to Rs.37,54,354/- (Rupees Thirty Seven Lakhs Fifty Four thousand Three hundred and Fifty Four) only.

(B) Proposal No. 1389-1410 (RV) dated 09-07-2025 amounting to Rs. 38,92,946/- (Rupees Thirty Eight Lakh Ninety two thousand Nine hundred and Forty-six) only.

(C) Proposal No. 1411-1426 (RV) dated 09-07-2025 amounting to Rs. 19,33,060/- (Rupees Nineteen Lakhs Thirty Three thousand and Sixty) only.

(D) Proposal No. 1427- 1437 (RV) dated 09-07-2025 amounting to Rs. 12,25,597/- (Rupees Twelve Lakhs Twenty Five thousand Five hundred and Ninety Seven) only.

(IV) The status report of the hire charge bills including payment against the bills submitted by the Addl. Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Admn),

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Guwahati, Assam is annexed herewith and marked as annexure-I.

10. That with regard to the statements made in paragraphs 9, 10, 11, & 12 of the Writ Petition, the answering deponent begs to state that the representations have been received by the Respondent Authorities, but the matter regarding release of fund against the proposals amount always depend upon the Govt., which are yet to be received for which the outstanding dues amounting to Rs. 1,08,05,957/- is pending. It is further stated that once sanction and FOC received from the authority, the outstanding dues will be credited to the Bank Account of the petitioner.”

Upon perusal of the materials on record and more particularly the paragraphs quoted hereinabove, it appears that the Respondents have admitted that the Petitioner at present is entitled to an amount of Rs.1,08,05,957/-.

Accordingly, the instant writ petition stands disposed of with the following observations and directions:

(i) The Respondent Authorities are directed pay the Petitioner the admitted amount of Rs.1,08,05,957/- or such amount after statutory deductions.

(ii) The said exercise be completed within a period of 6 (six) months from the date a certified copy of the instant judgment is served upon the Respondent No.3 i.e. the

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Director General of Police, Assam.

(iii) Any amount paid during the pendency of the present proceedings would be set off at the time of disbursal of the amounts to the Petitioner.

Digitally signed JUDGE Bijoy by Bijoy Saha Saha Date: 2026.05.18 15:17:23 +05'30'

Comparing Assistant