Writ appeal by a contractor aggrieved by the Single Judge's order directing payment without a fixed timeline. The High Court referred to a similar judgment and held that the lower court correctly applied the priority list, dismissing the appeal.
Writ appeal failed and was dismissed.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR.S.MANIKUMAR
&
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SHAJI P.CHALY
WEDNESDAY, THE 09TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2020 / 18TH AGRAHAYANA, 1942
WA.No.1655 OF 2020
AGAINST THE JUDGMENT IN WP(C) 12254/2020(F) OF HIGH COURT OF KERALA
APPELLANT/PETITIONER:
P.GANESHAN
AGED 48 YEARS, S/O.CHATHU T.P., PUTHALATHU HOUSE, PANTHERANKAVE (PO), KOZHIKODE DISTRICT.
BY ADVS. SRI.P.V.ANOOP SRI.PHIJO PRADEESH PHILIP SRI. M.P.PRIYESH KUMAR SRI.K.V.SREERAJ
RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENTS:
ADV.SRI.V.KRISHNA MENON, FOR R1
THIS WRIT APPEAL HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 09.12.2020, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
W.A.No.1655 of 2020
-:2:-
JUDGMENT
Dated this the 9th day of December, 2020
S.Manikumar, C.J.
Appellant herein is stated to be a registered contractor of Kozhikode Corporation and is aggrieved by the judgment of the writ court in W.P.(C) No.12254 of 2020 dated 19.10.2020. The appellant has filed the above writ petition for a direction to disburse the bill amount admitted by the respondents after completion of the work. A learned Single Judge disposed of the writ petition with a direction to the respondents to disburse the amount, which reads as hereunder:
“2. The 1st respondent has filed a statement in W.P. (C)No.12254/2020 producing the judgment Annexure-A in O.P.No.27438/2000, according to which the payment to the contractors shall be made strictly in accordance with the priority. The respondents have stated that the petitioner in W.P.(C) No.12254/2020 is serial no.6 and petitioner in W.P.(C) No.12275/2020 is serial no.21. In Annexure-C priority list, persons who completed the work in 2016 and 2017 are also waiting for the payment. According to the respondents, payment can be made only in accordance with the priority and a huge amount is due from the Government. It is stated that due to scarcity of funds, payment could not be made.
W.A.No.1655 of 2020
-:3:-
The learned counsel for the petitioner points out the difficulty faced by the contractors on account of delay in payment. Since there is no dispute with respect to the completion of work based on the contract awarded to the petitioners, there shall be a direction to the respondents to see that payment is made in accordance with the priority as expeditiously as possible. The Corporation shall take earnest efforts to see that the payment is made at the earliest.
Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of.”
direction was issued to disburse the amount, as stated supra, no time limit
was fixed by the learned Single Judge. According to the learned counsel for the appellant, even in similar matters, wherein courts had fixed a time limit, the amounts were not disbursed. Hence, this writ appeal.
available on record. On similar set of facts, we have dismissed W.A. No.1595 of 2020, by judgment dated 07.12.2020.
W.A.No.1655 of 2020
-:4:-
Writ appeal fails and accordingly, it is dismissed.
Sd/-
S.Manikumar Chief Justice
Sd/-
Shaji P.Chaly Judge
vpv
/TRUE COPY/
P.A. TO JUDGE
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the High Court should interfere with the lower court's direction to the corporation to make payments without fixing a specific time limit by referring to the priority list.
Whether the appellant can demand payment in a manner that bypasses the established priority list used by the respondents.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
W.A. No.1595 of 2020Followed¶35
P. Ganeshan
Kozhikode Corporation
S. Manikumar
Shaji P. Chaly
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
