Surendra Shukal @ Surendra Shukla Vs The State of Bihar — Patna HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Surendra Shukal @ Surendra Shukla Vs The State of Bihar — Patna HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Writ petition disposed of at the stage of admission with consent of counsel, without going into merits; liberty granted to the petitioner to file objections under Section 9 of the Public Demand Recovery Act against the notice dated 23.02.2025 within four weeks; Respondent No. 3 (District Certificate Officer, Gopalganj) to consider the objections and pass final orders under Section 10 of the Public Demand Recovery Act within four weeks thereof, after granting the petitioner an opportunity of hearing and communicating the orders to him.

Issue for consideration

Whether the High Court should entertain a writ petition challenging a show cause notice dated 23.02.2025 when the petitioner has a statutory remedy of filing objections under Section 9 of the Public Demand Recovery Act.

Ratio / Principle

The Court was not inclined to entertain the writ petition on merits because the petitioner had a statutory remedy of filing objections under Section 9 of the Public Demand Recovery Act; the petition was accordingly disposed of at the stage of admission with the consent of counsel, granting liberty to file objections against the notice dated 23.02.2025.

Key takeaways

Respondent No. 3, identified in the operative direction as the District Certificate Officer, Gopalganj, is directed to consider the objections filed by the petitioner and pass final orders under Section 10 of the Public Demand Recovery Act within a period of four weeks thereof.ratio¶17
Before passing any orders, the authority shall consider the objections filed by the petitioner and grant him an opportunity of hearing, and any orders passed shall be communicated to the petitioner.ratio¶18

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Patna High Court, CWJC No.7595 of 2025, decided 15-06-2026 by A. Abhishek Reddy, J. Petitioner (Surendra Shukal @ Surendra Shukla) challenged only a show cause notice dated 23.02.2025 (Annexure-2). Without entering merits, the Court held the petition was not entertainable because the petitioner possessed a statutory remedy of filing objections under Section 9 of the Public Demand Recovery Act; the petition was disposed of at the stage of admission with the consent of counsel, with liberty to file objections within four weeks. On such objections being filed, Respondent No. 3, identified in the operative direction as the District Certificate Officer, Gopalganj (shown in the cause title as 'District Magistrate Officer'), was directed to consider them and pass final orders under Section 10 of the Public Demand Recovery Act within four weeks thereof; the authority was further directed to consider the objections, grant the petitioner an opportunity of hearing before passing orders, and communicate any orders passed to him.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.7595 of 2025

======================================================

Surendra Shukal @ Surendra Shukla Son of Late Pahavari Shukal Resident of Village- Kanthi Bathua, P.S.- Phulwaria at Present Sripur, District- Gopalganj (Bihar).

... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

The State of Bihar through Principal Secretary, Finance Deptt. Govt. of Bihar, Patna.

District Magistrate -cum- Collector, Gopalganj.

District Magistrate Officer, Gopalganj, District- Gopalganj.

Branch Manager, State Bank of India, Phulwaria, District- Gopalganj.

... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Arun Kumar, Adv. For the Respondent/s : Mr. Pankaj Kr. Singh, Ex. G.A. (9) For the SBI Mr. Rakesh Kr. Singh, Adv. ======================================================

CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A. ABHISHEK REDDY ORAL ORDER

3 15-06-2026

Without going into the merits or demerits of the case,

the present writ petition is disposed of at the stage of admission with the consent of both the counsels.

Having regard to the fact that the petitioner is only challenging the show cause notice dated 23.02.2025 (Annexure2) and the petitioner is having statutory remedy of filing his objections under Section 9 of the Public Demand Recovery Act, this Court is not inclined to entertain the present writ petition. The present writ petition is disposed of granting liberty to the petitioner to file his objections under Section 9 of the Public Demand Recovery Act against the notice dated 23.02.2025

Patna High Court CWJC No.7595 of 2025(3) dt.15-06-2026 2/2

within a period of four weeks from today. On such objections being filed, the Respondent No. 3, i.e, the District Certificate Officer, Gopalgan is directed to consider the same and pass final orders under Section 10 of the Public Demand Recovery Act within a period of four weeks thereof.

It is needless to mention that before passing any orders, the authority shall consider the objections filed by the petitioner and grant him an opportunity of hearing. Any orders passed shall be communicated to the petitioner.

With the above directions, the present writ petition stands disposed of.

(A. Abhishek Reddy , J)

Bhardwaj/-

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