Sasmita Nayak vs. State Of Odisha

The attention of this Court is drawn to the certificate issued by the Executive Engineer, Rural Works Division, Nayagarh corroborating the fact that the work has been successfully completed by the petitioner. The petitioner is faced with a notice issued by the GST authorities as the GST is not paid for the sum which is still due and payable by the opposite parties-authorities.

Interestingly, the Executive Engineer, Rural Works Division, Nayagarh issued a letter on 16th July, 2024 disclosing that due to inadvertence, the said amount has been wrongly credited to an accounts of one Laxmi Swain, way back in the year 2018. Till date, no effective step has been taken by the said official in recovering the said amount wrongly credited to a third party’s account.

The privity of the contract is between the petitioner and the Government officials and, therefore, the obligation to make the payment for the work done is strictly in terms of the contract. One of the contracting parties cannot make the payment to a third party in the garb of a mistake denying the legitimate claim. Till date, the mistake has not been redressed yet and the petitioner appears to have been penalized for no fault on his account. A person cannot be permitted to reap the benefit of his mistake nor can make a person to suffer when he has no role to play in the transaction.

We, therefore, direct the officials to immediately make the payment of the said sum of Rs.4,59,877/- together with the interest @6% per annum to be reckoned from the date of remitting the amount wrongly in an account of a third party till the actual payment.

The writ petition is thus disposed of with the aforesaid observation and direction.