Hon'ble Jaspreet Singh,J.
Heard Sri Sumit Kumar Srivastava, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Alok Kumar, learned counsel appearing for the respondent no. 1.
By this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the petitioner is seeking quashment of the order dated Nil passed by the respondent no. 3 with a further prayer to direct the opposite parties to make immediate payment of an amount of Rs. 22,98,150/- alongwith interest at the rate of 12% per annum in respect of the inter-locking work done by the petitioner from the house of Indra Dev Dubey to Kohandaur Road.
In this regard, it would be useful to refer the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court passed in the case of Kerala State Electricity Board & Anr. Vs. Kurien E.Kalathil & Ors (2000) 6 SCC 293. In the aforesaid case, Hon'ble Supreme Court concluded that whether any amount is due under a contract is not a matter which can be agitated and decided in a writ petition since disputes arising out of the terms of a contract or alleged breach have to be settled by the ordinary principles of law of contract. The Supreme Court further observed that even if a Statute expressly or impliedly confers powers on a statutory body to enter into a contract in order to enable it to discharge its functions, such an activity will not raise any issue of public law. The contract between the parties would remain in the realm of private law and would not be a statutory contract.
In the case of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited & Anr. Vs. Dolly Das (1999) 4 SCC 450, the Hon'ble Supreme Court observed as under;
"In the absence of constitutional or statutory rights being involved a writ proceeding would not lie to enforce contractual obligations even if it is sought to be enforced against the State or to avoid contractual liability arising thereto. In the absence of any statutory right, Article 226 cannot be availed to claim any money in respect of breach of contract or tort or otherwise..........."
In the present case, there is nothing on the record, which may persuade us to hold that the contract is a statutory contract. The remedy of the contractor, if he is aggrieved by non-payment, would be to either file a civil suit or if there is an arbitration agreement between the parties, to invoke the terms of the agreement in question.
With the aforesaid, writ petition is disposed of.
[ Jaspreet Singh, J. ] [ Pankaj Kumar Jaiswal, J. ] Order Date :- 29.8.2019 Shekhar