1. Sagar Mining and Metal Industries Pvt. Ltd., through its Director, having its office at Near State Bank of India Road, Near St. Teresa School, Joda, P.O. & P.S. Joda, District Keonjhar758034 (Odisha). 2. Office of the Director of Industries, Odisha, through its Directorcum Chairman, Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council, Odisha, having its office at Killa Maidan, Buxi Bazar, Cuttack, P.O. & P.S. Cuttack, District Cuttack753001 (Odisha). ....... Respondents For Petitioner : Mr. Sumeet Gadodia, Advocate For Respondents : Mr. Shrestha Gautam, Advocate CAV On: 26.11.2024 Pronounced on: 18/12/2024 Heard learned counsel for the parties. 2. The brief fact of the case as it appears from the pleadings is that the Respondent No.1 Sagar Mining and Metal Industries Pvt. Ltd. filed a reference under Section 18 of 'The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006' (hereinafter referred to as 'MSME Act' for short) before the Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council, Odisha (hereinafter referred to as 'MSME Council' and/or 'Facilitation Council') which was registered as M.S.M.E.F.C. Case No. 60 of 2022. 3. A perusal of the aforesaid petition filed by Respondent No.1 would reveal that Respondent No.1 claimed itself to be a smallscale 1 enterprise and a 'supplier' within the meaning of Section 2(n) of the MSME Act and claimed that it is registered under the said Act w.e.f. 19.06.2019. Respondent No.1 further claimed that it was having technical expertise and capability to handle execution of contracts of mining and quarrying and a work order dated 07.11.2015 was issued to it by the Petitioner for installation of fully automated crushing plant and screening unit in the plant premises of Petitioner located at Barabhumri in the State of Jharkhand. 4. It has been further stated by the Respondent No.1 that an agreement was executed with the Petitioner on 1st July, 2016 for transfer of right to use the machinery of the Respondent and, in furtherance to the said agreement, Respondent gave on rent the aforesaid machinery for a period of 4 years at a consideration of Rs. 12,50,000/ per month. It was further contended that a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (for short 'MoU') was entered on 10.02.2016 between the ClaimantSagar Mining and Metal Industries Pvt. Ltd., the Petitioner M/s Shiva Minerals and one M/s Steel Re rollers. It was stated that under the aforesaid MoU, Respondent Claimant was responsible for creating infrastructure for mining in the leasehold area allotted by the Government of Jharkhand and the Petitioner was responsible for setting up of the processing plant and the thirdparty M/s Steel Rerollers was responsible for infusing funds for the venture; however, it was pleaded that the said third party M/s Steel Rerollers voluntarily withdrew from the memorandum of understanding. 5. It was further pleaded before MSME Council, Odisha that before completion of the contract period of 5 years the work ceased to continue and Petitioner neither returned the installed machinery nor rent was paid by the Petitioner. Accordingly, claim was made towards unpaid rent of machinery for the period from July, 2016 till August, 2018 of an amount of Rs. 5,75,25,000/. It was further pleaded by the Respondent No.1 that as per the work order, Respondent No.1 was entitled to further charge a sum of 2 Rs. 100 per metric tonne for processing 30,000 metric tonne stone chips but since as per the environmental clearance certificate only 18,000 metric tonne stone chips were allowed to be processed, the Respondent Claimant carried out the aforesaid work under the work order for the period July, 2016 till August, 2018 and raised bills for an amount of Rs. 5,52,24,000/ which was unpaid by the Petit