Gauhati High Court Aap Industries (Pvt) Ltd vs The State Of Assam And 2 Ors on 29 March, 2019 Page No.# 1/3 GAHC010068712019 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : WP(C) 2102/2019 1:AAP INDUSTRIES (PVT) LTD. A PRIVATE LTD. COMPANY, REP. BY ANKIT PATNI, ONE OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE PETITIONER, REGD. UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT, HAVING ITS REGD. OFFICE AT MAHAVIR BHAWAN, A.T. ROAD, GUWAHATI781001. VERSUS 1:THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 2 ORS. REP. BY THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF ASSAM, PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING DEPTT., DISPUR, GUWAHATI781003. 2:THE CHIEF ENGINEER PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING DEPTT. GOVT. OF ASSAM HENGARABARI GUWAHATI781003. 3:THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER P H E STORES AND WORKSHOP DIVISION BETKUCHI GUWAHATI Advocate for the Petitioner : MS M HAZARIKA Advocate for the Respondent : SC, P H E BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE UJJAL BHUYAN ORDER Date : 29032019 Heard Ms. Kewizun, learned counsel, appearing for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. P.N. Goswami, learned Standing counsel, PHE Department, appearing for the Page No.# 2/3 respondents. Petitioner is a small scale industrial unit duly registered under the Directorate of Industries as such. Petitioner unit is also registered under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (for short, "MSMED Act, 2006"). Petitioner had been supplying its manufactured items to the respondents and raised bills from time to time. Respondents had partially cleared the outstanding bills but a substantial amount is yet to be paid to the petitioner. Ms. Kewizun has submitted that for any default of the department in making payment for products supplied by the petitioner, Section 16 of the MSMED Act, 2006 requires the department to pay compound interest to it from the date immediately following the date agreed upon at the rate of three times the bank rate notified by the Reserve Bank of India and so the department is liable to pay the total outstanding dues of various bills still to be cleared with penal interest under Section 16 of the MSMED Act, 2006. She has further submitted that the petitioner had submitted a representation dated 24.12.2018 addressed to (i) the Secretary, Public Health Engineering Department, Government of Assam, and (ii) the Chief Engineer, Public Health Engineering Department, Government of Assam, for payment of the outstanding bills due to the petitioner along with interest accrued thereon as per the provisions of the MSMED Act, 2006. However, the said representation has not yet been disposed of. Mr. Goswami submits that the writ petition can be disposed of by directing the respondents, particularly, the Chief Engineer, PHE, to look into the petitioner's representation and to pass appropriate order(s) as well as to make payment, if entitled to, after undertaking necessary verification. Ms. Kewizun submits that this court may fix a time frame as may be considered appropriate for disposal of the petitioner's representation and for making payment. Mr. Goswami has no objection. Having regard to the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties, the writ petition is disposed of by directing the Chief Engineer, PHE, to consider the representation dated 24.12.2018 filed by the petitioner for making payment of outstanding dues with Page No.# 3/3 interest within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. JUDGE Comparing Assistant