Ambpali Handloom And Handicraft Multi State Cooperative Society Ltd v. The State Of Bihar through Secretary Social Welfare Department, Government of Bihar

Mr. Shahi states that in view of the facts stated in the application he would not press the prayer culled out in paragraph 1(i) of the writ application. The petitioner is the Cooperative Society/Non Government Organization called ‘Ambpali Handloom and Handicraft Multi State Cooperative Society Ltd. represented by its Chairperson Mrs. Archana Singh which has been registed under Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act,

2002. The petitioner-Cooperative Society runs a Short Stay Home (for short ‘the SSH’) under an agreement entered by and between the petitioner and the Respondent-Corporation. The agreement was entered for the period 2 Patna High Court CWJC No.1736 of 2013 (3) dt.26-08-2013

23.05.2010 to 24.05.2011. There is no dispute that thereafter the agreement to run the SST has not been renewed. The grievance of the petitioner is that for running the said SSH the petitioner was required to be paid as per the agreement and the Scheme of the Government. The fund for payment of such SSH is/are made available by the Corporation to the district administration and thereafter the payments are made as per the agreement reached by and between the parties. The petitioner continued to run the SSH beyond the agreement period but no payment was made. The situation which has arisen with the petitioner has also arisen with respect to several SSHs. running in several districts. Having appreciated the aforesaid facts and the difficulties the Respondent-Corporation, by a communication contained in memo no. 2809/11-12 dated 19.12.2011 (Annexure-5), impressed upon all the District Magistrates that for diverse reasons agreement with the NGOs/Societies for running the SSHs could not be renewed and as such the dues of the SSH should be paid for the non agreement period after making appropriate enquiry about its/their functioning and verifying the records of the NGOs/Societies.

It is the contention of the petitioner that in the light of the said communication the District Magistrate, Nawada was required to verify the records of the case and after being satisfied therefrom pay the legal dues of the petitioner. The same has not till date been paid to the petitioner leading to filing of the present writ petition. Counter affidavits have been filed on behalf of the Respondent Corporation as well as the State. The petitioner has filed rejoinder thereto. Learned counsel for the Respondent-Corporation as well as the State have submitted that an enquiry to verify the actual running of the SSH by the petitioner was made under the orders of the District Magistrate. In 3 Patna High Court CWJC No.1736 of 2013 (3) dt.26-08-2013 course of such enquiry, it was found that all relevant documents such as cash book, ledger, stock register etc. were not maintained and produced by the petitioner.

A report submitted by the chartered accountant was only submitted. The genuineness thereof has, however, been doubted in the light of the fact that all relevant records required to be maintained were not produced by the petitioner Cooperative Society. Considering the same the matter has been referred to the Corporation for taking a decision for payment of the dues on account of running the SSH by the petitioner for the period April 2011 to March 2012. No material has been placed on record by the respondents to show that a decision in the light of the said communication of the Deputy Development Commissioner (Annexure-B to the counter affidavit of respondent no.3) has been taken by the Respondent Corporation. Taking into consideration the aforesaid facts it appears that the claim of the petitioner has not finally been decided by the respondents. The matter appears to have been referred to the Corporation for taking a decision in the light of the report submitted by the district administration and the facts to be placed by the petitioner before the said Corporation.

Having heard the parties, this Court is persuaded to dispose of the application by the following order:- Let the Managing Director of the Corporation (respondent no.2) take a final decision on the claim of the petitioner for reimbursement of the dues for running the SSH at Nawada for the period April 2011 to March 2012 as quickly as possible preferably within five weeks of filing/production of a copy of this order. The petitioner is also granted liberty to make a detailed representation in this regard along with a copy 4 Patna High Court CWJC No.1736 of 2013 (3) dt.26-08-2013 of the present order before the said respondent within three weeks. (Kishore Kumar Mandal, J) HR/-