Allowed

Nawal Kishore v. the State of Bihar and Ors.

Patna HC15 Jul 2014CWJC/13085/2005

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The court quashed an appellate order and certificate proceedings initiated under the Bihar Public Demand Recovery Act. It held that without a concluded written agreement between the petitioner and the Zila Parishad, recovery via the Act cannot be validly pursued, though other legal recovery methods remain open.

What did the court decide?

The writ application was allowed; the impugned appellate order dated 14.06.2005 and the entire certificate proceedings were quashed.

Nawal Kishore Vs the State of Bihar and Ors. — Contract and Commercial Disputes | Patna HC (2014)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

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Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.13085 of 2005

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=========================================================== Nawal Kishore, Son of late Ram Avatar Singh, resident of Village- Iniar, P.S.Mufassil Begusarai, District- Begusarai. .... .... Petitioner/s Versus 1. The State of Bihar 2. The Collector, Begusarai. 3. Zila Parisad, Begusarai, through its Chief Executive Officer. 4. Certificate Officer, Begusarai. .... .... Respondent/s =========================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : None For the Respondent/s : Mr. Piyush Lall, AC to PAAG. =========================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MIHIR KUMAR JHA ORAL JUDGMENT

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Date: 15-07-2014

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No one has appeared on behalf of the petitioner. This Court has heard Mr. Piyush Lall, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents.

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The prayer of the petitioner in this writ application is confined to quashing an appellate order dated 14.06.2005 under Section 60 of the Bihar Public Demand Recovery Act in a certificate proceeding arising out of Certificate Case Nos. 1 of 2001-02, 2 of 2001-02 and 3 of 2001-02.

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The solitary attack of the petitioner to the impugned order is that in absence of an agreement in writing between the petitioner and the Zila Parishad, the certificate amount cannot be recovered from the petitioner by taking recourse to the provisions of Section 7 of the Bihar Public Demand Recovery Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act').

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Mr. Lall, in support of the impugned order passed by the

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Patna High Court CWJC No.13085 of 2005 dt.15-07-2014

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Collector of Begusarai District, in exercise of its appellate power under Section 60 of the Act, has supported the reasoning and finding that certificate amount was covered by Schedule-I to the Act. To that extent, Mr. Lall also relies on entry No. 8-A of Schedule-I of the Act which reads as follows:

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"8-A. Any outstanding loans and advances payable to State Government or to a Department or Official of the State Government by any body whatsoever."

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In the present case, it is not in doubt that the money, in question, was advanced to the petitioner by Zila Parishad and was payable by the petitioner to Zila Parishad. It is immaterial as to whether the said money was given to Zila Parishad by the State Government. The moment the requisition was filed for initiation of a certificate proceeding by the Zila Parishad, it will be deemed that such money was payable only to Zila Parishad and not by the State Government or any other department. Entry 8A of Schedule-I also relates to advance and loan payable to State Government and not Zila Parishad which being itself a local authority cannot be synonym of State Government.

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It is true that against the impugned appellate order, there is a provision of revision in terms of the Section 62 of the Act but once this writ application, filed in the year 2005, was admitted by an order dated 27.09.2013, the plea of alternative remedy also will be of little significance. Reference in this connection may be made to the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of L. Hirday Narain vs. Income Tax Officer, Bareilly reported in AIR 1971 SC 33 .

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Patna High Court CWJC No.13085 of 2005 dt.15-07-2014

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At the end of the day, it is however an admitted fact that there is no concluded written contract/agreement in between the petitioner and the Zila Parishad for recovery of the amount of taking recourse to the provision of the Act. In that view of the matter, this Court will have no difficulty in setting aside the appellate order and consequently the entire certificate proceedings of Certificate Case Nos. 1 of 2001-02, 2 of 2001-02 and 3 of 2001-02.

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Nothing said in this order, however, will come in the way of Zila Parishad to recover the amount by any other process as may be permissible in law.

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At the same time whatever has been observed in this judgment will also not come in the way of the State Government to take steps for recovery of the amount if it can be established and justified by the State that the certificate amount was actually payable to the State.

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That being so, this writ application, subject to the aforesaid observations and liberty, is allowed and the impugned order dated 14.06.2005 passed by the Collector of Begusarai District in Miscellaneous Case No. 75 of 2003 and consequently the entire proceedings of Certificate Case Nos. 1 of 2001-02, 2 of 2001-02 and 3 of 2001-03 are hereby quashed.

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(Mihir Kumar Jha, J)

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Patna High Court dated 15th July 2014/ NAFR/Sujit/-

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Nawal Kishore v. the State of Bihar and Ors.

Case brief

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Nawal Kishore v. the State of Bihar and Ors.

Case brief

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