Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.
Heard Shri Santosh Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri Ravi Anand Agarwal, learned counsel for the respondent nos.2 to 5.
Present writ petition is preferred seeking following principal reliefs:-
"(i) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding/directing the respondents, especially, the respondent No.1, to ensure payment of bills amounting to the tune of Rs.3,48,34,203.00 raised by the petitioner in lieu of the work already performed by it pursuant to specific orders issued by the said respondents on different dates alongwith admissible interest over the amount illegally withheld since Jan. 2017, Feb.2017, May 2017, Sept.2017, Nov.2018 & Jan.,2019 ... for no justifiable reasons.
(ii) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding/directing the Respondent No.2 to 4 to take appropriate decision upon the petitioner's last representation dated 12.10.2020 (contained in Annexure No.20 to this writ petition) within a fixed time-frame as may be fixed by this Hon'ble Court."
Sri Ravi Anand Agarwal, learned counsel for respondent nos.2 to 5 has raised objections with regard to the maintainability of the writ petition on the ground that the petitioner seeks to enforce certain contractual rights and obligations for which the appropriate remedy is to approach the civil court, or if there is any dispute with regard to the terms of the agreement, then in that case, the remedy is to invoke the arbitration clause under the agreement. The writ petition is not liable to be entertained for the reliefs which have been prayed for.
In support of his submission, he has placed reliance on the Division Bench judgement of this Court in Writ C No.13388 of 2020 (M/s Bio Tech System vs. State of UP and 4 others) decided on 19.11.2020, wherein it was held that the payments in respect of which the petitioners have raised their claims pertain to contractual and commercial obligations, and the pleadings and the material, which are on record, do not in any manner indicate that it is a public law remedy which the petitioners are seeking to invoke so as to persuade this Court to exercise its discretionary jurisdiction.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has completed the work assigned to it under the contract and there is no dispute or difference regarding entitlement of the petitioner to the payment for the contracted work and hence the petitioner is not supposed to invoke the arbitration clause.
We do not propose to entertain the present petition, in view of the fact that the agreement signed by the petitioner contains the arbitration clause in clause-32. It is open for the petitioner to invoke the same for the redressal of its grievance.
With the aforesaid observation, the writ petition is disposed of.
The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, self attested by the applicants alongwith a self attested identity proof of the said person (preferably Aadhar Card) mentioning the mobile number to which the said Aadhar Card is linked.
The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
Order Date :- 19.1.2021 RKP