Jharkhand High Court
Dhananjay Singhania vs The State Of Jharkhand & Ors on 10 August, 2023
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W. P. (C) No. 4241 of 2012
Dhananjay Singhania .... .. ... Petitioner(s)
Versus
The State of Jharkhand & Ors. .. ... ...Opp. Party(s)
...........
CORAM :HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GAUTAM KUMAR CHOUDHARY
.........
For the Petitioner(s) : Mr. Prashant Pallav, Advocate
For the State : Mr. Mukul Kr. Singh, AC to GP.III
For the Resp.-JSFC : M/s Dr. Ashok Kr. Singh, Advocate
Shivam Singh & Nilesh Modi, Advocates
For the Res. No.3 : Mr. Jitendra Shankar Singh, Advocate
......
10/ 10.08.2023. The instant Writ Petition has been filed for an appropriate direction
to release the Security deposit of Rs.3 Lakhs by the respondent-authority(s)
pursuant to the agreement dated 12.04.2010 with regard to transportation of food-
grains for a period of one year till 11.04.2011 along-with interest @12% per annum.
2. Petitioner is stuck in a dispute between Bihar State Food and Civil Supply
Corporation (BSFC, R-3) and its successor Jharkhand State Food and Civil Supply
Corporation (JSFC, R-2) for the release of the security deposit for supply order duly
executed by him. There is no dispute about due execution of the supply order and
the security amount having been deposited. The raging dispute to the consternation
of the petitioner for a decade is who will refund the security deposit, BSFC or JSFC?
3. As per the case of the petitioner in pursuance of the contract, Rs.3 Lakhs was
deposited as Security deposit. The Jharkhand State Food and Civil Supply was
constituted in the Month of January, 2011 and the matter is within the purview of
this Corporation. The contract has been duly executed, but the security deposit has
not been released.
3. Separate counter-affidavit(s) has been filed on behalf of the State authorities who
have been impleaded as Respondent Nos.2 and 3.
4. Bihar State Food and Civil Supply Corporation appeared and filed its separate
counter-affidavit and as per the stand taken by the BSFC & JSFC, i.e. 14.11.2000
has been earmarked as cut-off date of such assets and liabilities.
5. It is submitted by the learned Counsel on behalf of BSFC that even after
bifurcation of the State of Bihar, in the State of Jharkhand, State Food Supply
Department continued to function in the name of BSFC. The JSFC finally came
into existence on 1st February, 2011 and thereafter vide resolution no.389 of the
JSFC dated 04.02.2016, (Clause no.1 and 3), it has been resolved to divide the
assets and liabilities of the two with cut off date of 14.11.2000. District Manager,
JSFC, Sahebganj is liable to make the payment of the security deposit to the
petitioner in the light of the resolution adopted by JSFC.
6. From Para-3 of the Resolution, it will be apparent that liability has been
apportioned between both the States and the respective liability has been quantified.
After the said quantification and taking 14.11.2000 as the cut-off date, the
Respondent No.3 cannot be saddled with liability to pay the security deposit which
has been credited in the account and the liability has been duly apportioned between
both the sides. As per the agreement, the District Manager, JSFC, Sahebganj is
liable to make payment of the security deposit to the petitioner after getting
authorized from Respondent No.2. Reliance is placed on the judgment passed in
W.P.(C) No.6763 of 2013 passed by this Court which was with respect to payment
of transportation bill in which it was held relying on this resolution that the cut-off
date was 14.11.2000 and JSFC was held liable to make the payment. It has been
held that Circular No.389 dated 04.02.2016 does not stipulate that it will not apply
to other liability apart from pensionary benefit. The circular was by way of
executive instruction and will therefore bind the department. Further in the
judgment passed in LPA No.215 of 2021 the matter has been settled on the same
line.
5. It is submitted by learned counsel for the JSFC that the security deposit which
was received on the terms of completion of the agreement was credited in the
account of BSFC and the same will be apparent from Annexure-A to the Counter-
affidavit filed on behalf of BSFC wherein it has been stated that the amount has
been credited in its account on 28.04.2010 and the amount has not been adjusted
against other dues. Further, from Annexure-B, it is apparent that vide Letter dated
24.08.2011, the Chief of procurement of BSFC had given the approval for release
of the security deposit in favour of the petitioner. After receipt of the approval, the
District Manager, JSFC, Sahibganj, requisitioned the amount from BSFC, but the
said demand has not been ful-filled.
Lastly, it is submitted that the matter does not involve dues with respect to service
matter with regard to which Annexure-D had been issued wherein cut-off date has
been fixed as 14.11.2000.
6. The resolution dated 04.02.2016 leaves no doubt whatsoever that the cut off date
for determining the liabilities of JSFC and BSFC is 14.11.2000. As per the principle
adopted for determining the liabilities, the movable property and liabilities were
divided in 3:1 ratio and was quantified in the meeting between the officers of the
respective department of the two States. It has been clarified and settled by the ratio
discussed herein to above that the resolution was not confined to the pensionary
benefits, but also applied to the other assets and liabilities. In this view of the matter,
it is not germane for the present determination that where the security deposit was
made. What is relevant for consideration is where the work was done and liability
raised. It is not in dispute that petitioner executed the work as per agreement after
the cut off date of 14.11.2000 in the State of Jharkhand, in pursuance to the
agreement entered with, the State Food and Civil Supply Corporation, District Unit
Sahebganj Dated 12.04.2010.
Under the circumstance, for the reasons discussed above, JSFC with its
unit at Sahebganj shall be liable to release the security deposit of Rs3,00,000/- in
favour of the petitioner.
Respondent No.4- District Manager, JSFC is accordingly directed to
release security deposit of Rs.3,00,000/- in favour of the petitioner with interest @
9% per annum on the said amount from the date its deposit till the date of its
payment. The payment shall be made within two months of the order.
Writ petition is accordingly allowed.
(Gautam Kumar Choudhary, J.)
Sandeep/
Uploaded/
