THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE K.C. BHANU WRIT PETITION NO : 3011 of 2010 Between: Sabbella Somi Reddy, S/o. Dyvala Reddy Aaparthy, East Godavari District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1. Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, rep. by its Commissioner, Rural Development & NREAGS, Saifabad, Hyderabad, and others. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner: M/s. Siva Bhami Reddy.S. Counsel for the Respondents 1 to 3: G.P. for P.R & Rural Dev. Counsel for the Respondents 4: Mr. M. Prabhakar Rao The Court made the following : ORDER: (per Hon’ble Sri Justice A. Gopal Reddy) The petitioner, who is a contractor, filed this writ petition in the form of Public Interest Litigation, contending that the fourth respondent has sanctioned work order on 17.01.2010 for levelling the Zilla Parishad Girls High School Ground at Anaparthy, East Godavari District, for an estimated cost of Rs.5,01,803/-. But the work has been completed unauthorisedly by the department through contractor for Rs.80,000/- misusing the Central Government Scheme. When he complained to the higher official, the work has been incorporated in the work order dated 17.01.2010. In spite of his submitting detailed representation to the second respondent, the fourth respondent is allotting the work to the contractor neglecting the directions issued by the second respondent, and therefore, the respondents may be directed to enquire into the matter relating to the works allotted for levelling of Girls High School Ground. In the affidavit filed by the petitioner, it is no where stated that he is filing the writ petition in the form of Public Interest Litigation and earlier he as a public spirited man, ventilated the grievances of the public, or as required in that regard, as laid down by the Supreme Court in State of Uttaranchal v. Balwant Singh[1]. The third respondent filed counter affidavit stating that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (for short ‘the Act’) is introduced for enhancement of livelihood security of the house holds in rural areas by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year, to every household, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. For implementation of the same, the State Government formulated National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS-AP) and the same was being implemented in the State from 2006-07. In East Godavari District, the scheme was started during the year 2007-08. Under the Public Institution Development Project (PIDP) under NREGS, one work with I.D.No.0405033030020 60243 was sanctioned with an estimated cost of Rs.5,01,803/- for the purpose of levelling of Zilla Parishad Girls High School ground at Anaparthi village. The Sarpanch, Anaparthi Gram Panchayat was asked to take up the work through Gram Panchayat as per NREGS norms. On the representation filed by the petitioner through District Collector that the work was not done as per NREGS norms but by a group of contractors, the District Collector noted his remarks on the representation instructing the Project Director, DWMA, Kakinada to inspect the work personally. The Project Director, inspected the work and stated that 1. The earth was quarried from a village Mukkinaada Pakalu. At quarry site machinery was used for excavation of earth, which is against NREGS norms. 2. The lead sanctioned in estimate is 5.0 kms. Since earth is not available within 5.0 kms, earth was conveyed from 8.0 kms distance. However the transportation cost should be limited to 5.0 kms only as per estimate. 3. NREGS wage-seekers were engaged at Zilla Parishad Girls High School, Anaparthi only to level the ground. Their names are entered in muster sheet. 4. Machinery was engaged at quarry site only but not at Zilla Parishad Girls High School Ground at Anaparthi. However Roller was used to consolidate, which is not in the estimate, therefore need not be taken into account. 5. The Quality Control Engineer has taken measurements at 56 points to measure the actual quality of work done in the presence of petitioner, EGS staff and some of the media representatives. The value of the work done is given as Rs.1,94,100/- (Cost of conveyance charges of earth i.e., 1600 cum @ 118.50 cum is Rs.1,89,600/- and the cost of labour for spreading, as per muster roll is Rs.4,500/-). 6. The MPDO and other EGS staff of Anaparthi have stated that, muster was issued from 19.01.10 on wards for spreading of earth and no payment was given so far. It is stated that regarding the work allotted for leveling of Zilla Parishad Girls High School ground, Anaparthi village, an enquiry has already been conducted and the report has been submitted by the Quality Control Engineer. The Project Director, DWMA, NREGS-AP, Kakinada, received the report regarding the quality of the work done and the estimated value of the work. Since the enquiry has already been conducted and a report was also submitted to the Quality Control Engineer, the District Collector is directed to pass orders on the representation submitted by the petitioner taking into consideration the report submitted by the Quality Control Engineer as to whether the work was done as per the norms of NREGS, and the labour, whose names were entered in the muster sheet, were provided the employment as per the scheme and were paid the wages or not. The District Collector is also directed to see that the workers, who are engaged to execute the work, will be paid necessary wages as per the NREGS norms and intimate to the petitioner about the action taken by him within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. A copy of the action report shall also be forwarded to the Registrar of this Court to be placed in the file. With the above directions the writ petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________________ (A.GOPAL REDDY, J.) _____________ (K.C. BHANU, J.) 20th July, 2009 Js. [1] 2010 (3) SCC 402