HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. NAGARJUNA REDDY W.P.No.10250 of 2013 Date : 24-11-2014 Between :
B. Malla Reddy ..
Petitioner And Andhra Pradesh State Housing Corporation, Represented by its Managing Director, Hyderabad and others ..
Respondents Counsel for petitioner : Smt. K. Swarna Seshu Counsel for respondents : None appeared The Court made the following :
ORDER:
This Writ Petition is filed for a mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in not paying the bill amount of Rs.24,76,458/- towards construction material like steel, cement, bricks and electrical appliances etc., for construction of Indiramma Houses, as illegal and arbitrary.
On behalf of the respondents, the Project Director of respondent No.1 has filed a counter-affidavit wherein it is inter alia stated that the petitioner is not a listed contractor of respondent No.1-Corporation and that he is not an agency for carrying out civil works at the Sankaram Projects. It is further averred that neither the construction work at Sankaram village nor any other work for supply of construction material to the construction site was given to the petitioner on contract basis. The counter-affidavit further averred that the works are executed by the Department by duly engaging labour and masons as per Departmental Execution Norms and that the delivery of material and its receipt by the officials of respondent No.1-Corporation at the Project site was to be made applicable for the part of the material received only and the same does not give rise to any claim for payments due to the supplier without any authorisation or agreement between respondent No.1- Corporatin and the material supplier. On this premises, respondent No.1 has denied the claim of the petitioner for payment of the bills.
Having regard to the seriously disputed question of fact as to whether the petitioner is the authorised agency for supply of material, which requires to be resolved based on appreciation of evidence, both oral and documentary, this Court is of the opinion that the Writ Petition is not a proper remedy. The petitioner is therefore permitted to file a civil suit before the competent court of civil jurisdiction for the relief claimed in this Writ Petition.
The Writ Petition is accordingly dismissed without adjudicating on the claim of the petitioner on merits, with liberty to him to avail the remedy of a civil suit.
As a sequel to the dismissal of the Writ Petition, WPMP Nos.12727 and 19679 of 2013 are disposed of as infructuous.
Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy Date : 24-11-2014 AM