Uttarakhand High Court
8Th September vs Nagar Palika Parishad on 18 September, 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI VIPIN SANGHI
AND
HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAKESH THAPLIYAL
WRIT PETITION (M/B) NO. 238 OF 2023
18TH SEPTEMBER, 2023
Naveen Agarwal .....Petitioner.
Versus
Nagar Palika Parishad, Mussoorie & another ....Respondents.
Counsel for the Petitioner : Mr. Piyush Garg, learned counsel.
Counsel for the Respondent Nos.1 & 2 : Mr. Bhuwan Bhatt, learned
counsel.
Counsel for the Respondent No.3 : Mr. B.S. Parihar, learned
Standing Counsel.
The Court made the following:
JUDGMENT:(per Hon'ble The Chief Justice Sri Vipin Sanghi)
The present order be read as in continuation of our
order dated 06.09.2023. In pursuance of the said order, a
compliance affidavit has been filed by respondent no.2.
Paragraph No.4 of the said affidavit reads as follows:-
"4. That incompliance of the order dated 06.09.2023
respondents are submitting that the In-charge Secretary of
Urban Development, Uttarakhand Government vide its letter
no.1-39187/2022 dated 31.05.2022 has given permission to
the Nagar Palika Parishad Mussoorie for the tender for
collection of eco-tourist fees. In continuation of the said letter
the Nagar Palika Parishad, Mussoorie issued NIT on
22.07.2022 for installation, operation and maintenance of
eco-tourist fees based on electronic system. The contract for
allotment of work was executed with the petitioner on
29.08.2022 considering his highest bid. The amount of eco-
tourism fee deposited every year by the petitioner has been
deposited by him in Nagar Palika Parishad, Mussoorie. The
Nagar Palika Parishad has not issued any demand notice to
the petitioner. It is imperative to point out here that the
Directorate of Urban Development of Uttarakhand are being
investigate about the works related to collection of eco-
tourism fees, in which through the investigation report of the
Directorate dated 26.06.2023 the petitioner has been charged
with financial loss of Rs.463.08 lakhs of eco-tourism fees for
the financial year 2019-2020, 2020-21 and 2021-22, due to
these reasons the No Dues Certificate not issued to the
petitioner (Annexure no.6 & 7 of the writ petition)".
2. From the above, it would be seen that the
respondents appear to have undertaken some internal inquiry
of their own, without the involvement of the petitioner, and
on that basis, appear to have arrived at some unilateral
conclusion, that the respondents have suffered financial loss
of Rs.463.08 towards the eco-tourism fees for the financial
years 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22, when the petitioner
was serving as the contractor for collection of eco-tourism
fee.
3. Pertinently, no demand in respect of the alleged
loss has been issued to the petitioner. Since there is no such
demand, there is no question of their being any due against
the petitioner, due to the aforesaid alleged financial loss.
4. Consequently, we allow this petition.
5. The petitioner has already been permitted by us to
participate in the tender in question, even though, the
petitioner had not been issued the No Dues certificate.
6. From a perusal of the aforesaid extract from the
compliance affidavit of respondent no.2, it is evident that
actually, the petitioner had paid the dues on account of the
eco-tourism charges and there was no default of the
petitioner in respect of the eco-tourism charges payable by it.
The petitioner was, therefore, wrongly denied the No Dues
certificate. We, therefore, direct the respondents to proceed
to consider the bid of the petitioner in respect of the tender,
in question.
7. The petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
8. Pending application, if any, also stands disposed of.
(VIPIN SANGHI, C.J.)
(RAKESH THAPLIYAL, J.)
Dated: 18th September, 2023
NISHANT
