AJN 26-OS-WP955.04 : 1 : IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.955 OF 2004 M/s. Bedmutha Wire Co. Ltd. ... Petitioner Vs. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. ... Respondents Mr. K.D. Shah for the petitioner. Ms. A.R.S. Baxi for respondents 2 and 3. CORAM: SMT. RANJANA DESAI, & RANJIT MORE, JJ. DATED : 26TH JULY, 2011. P.C.:- 1. The petitioner is a registered Small Scale Unit. It manufactures G.I. Stay Wires used for electricity transmission. The Maharashtra Electricity Board - respondent 2 herein had invited bids from various manufactures after floating tenders. The petitioner submitted its bid. The petitioner's bid was accepted and orders for supply of various quantities of G.I. Stay Wires at AJN 26-OS-WP955.04 : 2 : various places were placed by respondent 2. 2. It is the petitioner's case that though according to the agreement between the petitioner and respondent 2, the petitioner had supplied goods to respondent 2, respondent 2 did not pay the price of the said goods within the stipulated time which has caused irreparable loss to the petitioner. The petitioner was forced to borrow funds from the market at high interest rate. The petitioner has relied upon the provisions of the Interest on Delayed Payment of Small Scale and Ancillary Industries Act, 1993 (for short, “the said Act”) and prayed that the respondents be directed to follow the provisions of the said Act and direction be given to respondent 2 to pay to the petitioner a sum of Rs.16,52,662.40 and also future interest for the subsequent period from 1/2/2004 in accordance with the provisions of the said Act. 3. Section 6 of the said Act is material and needs to be quoted. It reads as under: AJN 26-OS-WP955.04 : 3 : “6. Recovery of amount due : (1) The amount due from a buyer, together with the amount of interest calculated in accordance with the provisions of Sections 4 and 5, shall be recoverable by the supplier from the buyer by way of a suit or other proceeding under any law for the time being in force. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), any party to a dispute may make a reference to the Industry Facilitation Council for acting as an arbitrator or Conciliator in respect of the matters referred to in that sub section and the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (26 of 1996) shall apply to such dispute as if the arbitration or conciliation were pursuant to an arbitration agreement referred to in sub section (1) of Section 7 of that Act.” 4. Sub-section (1) of Section 6 provides for a remedy of suit for recovery of interest and sub-section (2) provides for a reference to the Arbitrator. There is no acceptable explanation offered in the petition as to why these remedies provided under the said Act have not been adopted. Affidavit in reply has been filed on behalf of AJN 26-OS-WP955.04 : 4 : respondent 2 in which claim of the petitioner is disputed. It is not possible for us to decide the disputed questions of fact involved in this petition in our writ jurisdiction. 5. Learned counsel for the parties have drawn our attention to the judgment of the Division Bench of this court dated 19/11/2010 in Writ Petition No.1277 of 2003 (M/s. Bedmutha Wire Co. Ltd. v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors.) and companion writ petitions. In similar fact situation, after considering relevant provisions of the said Act and judgment of the Supreme Court in M/s. Equipment Conductors and Cables Ltd. v. Haryana State Electricity Board and Anr. AIR 2002 SC 2421, the Division Bench dismissed the petitions by observing that its order will not come in the way of the petitioner adopting such remedy as may be advised for recovery of interest. In our view, the present case is completely covered by the said judgment and similar order needs to be passed. Hence, the following order : AJN 26-OS-WP955.04 : 5 : 6. The petition stands dismissed. No order as to costs. Rule stands discharged. However, this order will not come in the way of the petitioners adopting such remedy as it may be advised, for recovery of interest. [SMT. RANJANA DESAI, J.] [RANJIT MORE, J.]