IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No 5278 of 2006 BISHWANATH PRASAD Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS ----------- 4 06.08.2008 The unreasonable, unfair and the arbitrary State action is writ large on the facts of the present case. Certain roads, which had been eroded because of floods, had to be repaired on emergency basis. Unfortunately the petitioner, being a qualified and competent contractor, accepted the work and did it to the satisfaction of authorities. For the payment of the same, a cheque was issued to the petitioner under the signature of the Executive Engineer, Road Constructions Department, Road Division, Dhaka (Motihari) being cheque No 309805 dated 31.03.2005 which is the last day of the financial year for an amount of Rs 11,01,063/-. As it was issued on the last day of the financial year, it could not be honoured by the Bank and, thereafter, fresh allocations were required to honour the cheque which never came about. This forced the petitioner to come to this Court where in the counter affidavit, a strange stand was taken by the State. They did not dispute their liability to pay nor did they dispute the issuance of the aforesaid cheque in discharge of their admitted liability. The stand was that the payment would be made as and when funds were available at their sweet will. Coming from a democratically elected Government working under the Constitution, this is shocking. In the counter affidavit, so far as the amount is concerned, it is clearly mentioned that what was payable was Rs 11,01,063/- which was the cheque amount earlier drawn. Now petitioner has filed an additional supplementary affidavit 2 wherein it is stated that the petitioner has now been given a cheque dated 22.07.2008 for Rs 10,44,392/- for the same and in replacement of the earlier cheque. On the face of it, the cheque amount is less by about Rs 56,000/- without any explanation for that. As in the counter affidavit, it was admitted that that was the amount that was payable and for that amount, the cheque had been drawn up in the year 2005. It is that amount that has to be paid to the petitioner and not a single paise can be deducted from that amount any further. I, therefore, direct the respondents to make good the balance forthwith which should be paid within fortnight of presenting this order before the concerned Executive Engineer. With these directions and observations aforesaid, this writ application stands allowed. M.E.H./ (Navaniti Prasad Singh)