Jammu & Kashmir High Court slaps ₹9 lakh costs on government for playing "hide and seek" with orders

The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh recently imposed exemplary costs of ₹9 lakh on the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for evading payments due from it to a contractor since 2015 [Union Territory of J&K & Ors. v. Mohammad Afzal Reshi]..A Bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Mohd Yousuf Wani slammed the administration for playing "hide and seek" with court orders instead of complying with an earlier single-judge directive to complete making these payments. "Despite this Court having passed several decisive orders in the past in contempt petitions, the Union Territory continues to play hide and seek with the orders of this Court," the September 4 ruling said. The Court also rejected the administration's explanation that there were delays in payment due to a paucity of funds. The Court said that such an excuse was abominable and condemnable in the strongest words, more so when the Union Territory is part of the Union Government "which is the repository of the lion's share of wealth generated in this country.""It shocks the conscience that we tout ourselves as fifth largest economy in the world, aspiring to be the third largest soon, but do not have funds to pay the legitimate dues of the respondent (contractor) amount to Rs 20.97 lacs, which denigrates and puts to doubt the lofty claims of the economic prowess of the country," the Court added. .The Court's order came in a case where the Jammu and Kashmir government had failed to release a part of the amount due to a contractor for civil works completed in 2015.About ₹29 lakhs were due to the contractor when his plea was first heard by a single judge of the High Court. The single judge ordered the government to pay up these dues along with an interest of 6 per cent per annum. The Jammu and Kashmir government failed to complete the payment as ordered and a contempt case was filed by the contractor against it. .Meanwhile, the government tried to challenge the single-judge order with a revision petition which was dismissed as "frivolous" and merely an attempt by government babus to stultify the legitimate rights of citizens. After this, the government filed an appeal against the single-judge order, which was heard by the present Division Bench. In its appeal, the government also argued that certain additional work carried out by the contractor was done without authorised sanction. Therefore, it denied any liability to pay an amount of about ₹16 lakhs claimed by the contractor. In total, the contractor had claimed that a consolidated amount of ₹20.97 lakhs was left to be paid by the time the appeal was filed. However, while the appeal was pending, the contractor passed away in July this year. .The Division Bench expressed strong anguish over these developments. It termed the government's appeal as being motivated by malice, with the intent to deprive and harass a litigant."The Court deprecates the conduct of the Union Territory in filing the present appeal, the only motive being to harass the respondent for which certain precipitate orders are required to be passed so that the Union Territory in all future cases shall appreciate that there are severe consequences to be suffered for misuse of the judicial process," the Court said. It also castigated the government for trying to reduce its liability by arguing that additional work was done by the contractor without proper sanction. It concluded that an order needs to be passed so that the Union Territory refrains from filing such frivolous cases to delay the grant of relief to litigants. .Accordingly, a cost of ₹1 lakh was imposed on the government for every year of delay in paying the contractor in this case. The total costs payable came up to ₹9 lakhs since the amount had become due to the contractor nine years earlier, in 2015. "This cost shall be recovered from the salary of the Officer who initiated this misadventure of filing the present LPA knowing fully well that there is no reasonable cause at all," the Court added. These costs are to be paid in addition to the settlement of the remaining dues of ₹20.97 lakhs and interests thereon. Since the contractor had passed away, the Court ordered that this amount be paid to his legal heirs. .Deputy Advocate General Mubeen Wani appeared for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.Advocates Lone Altaf, Irfan Andleeb and Shafqat Nazir represented the contractor. .[Read Order]