On Friday, November 17, in compliance with Bhubaneswar Senior Division Sub-Judge’s order, the court officials undertook the auction of furniture and articles belonging to the Bhubaneswar Division Chief Engineer Dukhabandu Behara over non-payment of pending bills totalling Rs 18 lakh to a contractor of Construction India Company.
Bhubaneswar Senior Division Sub judge ordered the auction of the property after hearing a plea filed by Construction India contractor Dinesh Pathak.
The construction firm completed the construction of a nine-story building in 1981. However, the Chief Engineer failed to make a payment of Rs 6 lakh, prompting the contractor to file a lawsuit. Previously, on April 29, the Court issued a similar judgement. Behera, on the other hand, had requested time from the Court, and court stayed the auction allowing him more to make the payment. But even after Behera failed to settle the money within the time frame specified, as a result, the Court ordered that the furniture in his office be auctioned off to make the payment.
The items listed for auction in the office include an executive chair, executive table, office chairs, designed sofas, standing AC, Dell-all-in-one-1, HP laserjet printer, plain tables, LG smart TV, keyboards, optical mouse, wall fans, UPS (Microtek), Microtek (Tabular) inverters, and a round glass tea table.
“We had to fight a long battle of more than 40 years. On the court’s order, immovable assets like computers, air-conditioners, iron rakes, chairs and other articles have been seized,” Dinesh Pathak said.
Videos show court employees removing the listed items like a TV, computers, sofas and other items from the office to be auctioned. The court order said that the items would be sold in a public auction, adding that it would be stopped if the payment was made before the auction was held.
The auction, however, was reportedly called off later in the day after the State government paid the contractor in full via online mode. “We were provided allotments from the Chief Engineer (Building) office. As per the Chief Engineer’s instruction, we paid the amount to the Senior Civil Judge, Bhubaneswar,” R&B’s Senior Divisional Accounts Officer, Sambit Kumar Mishra said. However, the items were already taken away from the office for auction, so the office of the Chief Engineer (Building) remained vacant. The employees could work during the day because the computers containing data were seized on court orders.
Construction India had built the Heads of Departments Building, also known as Na Tala, 42 years ago, and was to receive Rs 6 lakh in unpaid bills. Birendra Kumar Pathak, one of Construction India’s managing partners, had moved High Court regarding unpaid invoices. The High Court then appointed an arbitrator, who issued an order in 1982 mandating the state government to pay Rs 6 lakh to Construction India. Later the matter went to the Supreme Court, which had held the order of the arbitrator. However, the payment was not made.
After that, the Civil Judge Senior Division Court in the city directed the state government last year to pay the pending dues along with the interest to Construction India. The court had sent notices to the government to make the payment, but the payment was not cleared. As a result, the court ordered the auction of items in the office of the Chief Engineer (Building) and use the money to make the payment for pending dues along with interest, totalling around Rs 18 lakh.