Castigating the State government for not moving an inch further since August 2023 on holding inquiries against alleged illegality by contractors in executing works, the High Court of Karnataka made it clear that it will order the release of the entire amount due to the contractors without permitting the inquiry to go on further if the same is not completed within six weeks from Tuesday.
The court also expressed shock over “not moving a spec of papers after setting up of the one-man inquiry commission despite specific directions issued by the court on December 13, 2023, to complete the inquiry within 45 days and submit the report to the court.”
Justice M. Nagaprasanna made these observations while hearing petitions filed by Nikshep Infra Projects and 44 other contractors questioning the legality of the inquiry and delay in the release of thousands of crores of rupees due to them despite the issuance of completion certificates by the competent authority about satisfactory completion of civil works long ago.
Before next hearing
If the same scenario continues further, then the court will have “no option but to conclude that the government’s decision to hold the inquiry is nothing but a sham,” the court observed orally while directing the government to complete the inquiry through the commission and submit the report before the next date of hearing on April 2.
Earlier, Advocate-General Shashi Kiran Shetty admitted that there was “some delay” in presenting documents before the commission and pointed out that the nodal officer was appointed only on December 26, 2023, and he presented the documents before the commission on January 9 after collecting from various zones of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.
However, the commission asked the nodal officer to submit all the documents in a particular format and this took more time in submitting documents, which so far has not held any proceedings of inquiry, the A-G said.
Mr. Shetty also clarified to the court that the continuation of the inquiry before the commission has nothing to do with any payment to be made to the petitioner-contractors in terms the undertaking given to the court in December, and the part payments are being released on a seniority basis. However, the advocate for some of the petitioner-contractors has said that the government has not yet paid paid 75% of the total amount due to all the petitioners.
The contractors have complained in their petitions that the government’s action of non-payment has resulted in banks initiating recovery proceedings against them for non-payment of loan which they had borrowed for executing the government’s works secured through tenders.
