Pending contractor’s bill: Court orders auction of property of Chief Engineer’s office in Bhubaneswar

The furniture and other articles of the office of Bhubaneswar Building Division Chief Engineer Dukhabandu Behera will be auctioned over non-payment of pending bills amounting to Rs 18 lakh to a contractor of Construction India Company.

Hearing a case filed by Construction India contractor Dinesh Pathak, Bhubaneswar Senior Division Sub judge ordered the auction of the property.

Following the development, the Court employees reached Behera’s office to start the auction process.

A nine-storey building was constructed by Pathak in 1998. However, the Chief Engineer didn’t give the payment following which the contractor moved the Court. Earlier on April 29, the Court had given a similar kind of verdict. However, Behera had sought time from the Court.

As Behera failed to clear the payment within the stipulated time period, the Court again ordered for the auction of the furniture in his office.

The furniture to be auctioned 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 round glass tea table.

“Notice is hereby given that under Rule65 of Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, an order has been passed by this Hon'ble Court for the sale of the attached property in satisfaction of the claim of the decree-holder in the suit (1) mentioned in the margin, amounting with costs and interest up to date of sale to the sum of Rs.9,19,355. The sale will be public auction, and the property will be put up for sale in the lots specified in the schedule. The sale will be of the property of the judgment-debtors above named as mentioned in the schedule below; and the liabilities and claims attaching to the said property, so far as they have been ascertained are those specified in the Schedule against each lot. In the absence of any order of postponement, the sale will be held by bailiff at the sale on the premises of JDR at Bhubaneswar. In the event, however, of the debt above specified and of the costs of the sale being tendered paid before the knocking down of any lot, the sale will be stopped. At the pubic generally are invited to bid, either personal or by duly authorized agent. No bid, by or on behalf of the judgment-creditors above-authorized amount of his purchase money to the officer conducting the sale and default of such deposit the property shall forthwith be put up again and re-sold,” the judgment read.

“The full amount of the purchase money shall be paid by the purchaser before the Court closes on the fifteenth day after the sale of the property, exclusive of such day, or if the fifteenth day be a Sunday or other holiday, then on the first office day after the fifteenth day. In default of payment of the balance of purchase money within the period allowed, the property shall be re-sold after the issue of a fresh notification of sale. The deposit, after defraying the expenses of the sale, may, if the Court thinks fit, be forfeit to Government and the defaulting purchaser shall forfeit all claim to the property or to any part of the sum for which it may be subsequently sold,” the order further read.

Later in the day, the auction was called off after the State government paid all the money to the contractor through online mode.

Speaking about the payment, R&B's Senior Divisional Accounts Officer, Sambit Kumar Mishra said, "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."