V. Santhosh Babu vs. The General Manager
Held
The Court held that the respondents cannot indefinitely delay payment for work extracted from the petitioner. It directed the Southern Railway to pay the outstanding amount found due to the petitioner within a period of four months.
Facts
A railway contractor, who undertook works for Southern Railway worth over Rs. 11 Crore, completed a substantial portion and raised bills for Rs. 72,90,732/-. The Southern Railway failed to honor these bills, citing an acute financial crisis and proposing payment within four months.
Key Issues
The key legal issue was whether the Southern Railway could indefinitely delay payment to a contractor for completed work, citing financial constraints, and what relief the contractor was entitled to.
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE N.NAGARESH TUESDAY, THE 7TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2021 / 16TH AGRAHAYANA, 1943 WP(C) NO. 25003 OF 2021 PETITIONER: V. SANTHOSH BABU, AGED 58 YEARS, S/O VELAYUDHAN, KODATH HOUSE, ALAMITTAM ROAD, U.C. COLLEGE P.O, ALUVA, ERNAKULAM-683102. BY ADVS. S.SHANAVAS KHAN(K/001684/1995) S.INDU RESPONDENTS: 1 THE GENERAL MANAGER, SOUTHERN RAILWAY HEAD QUARTERS OFFICE, PARK TOWN, CHENNAI-600003. 2 THE CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER (CONSTRUCTION) SOUTHERN RAILWAY, ERNAKULAM-682016. 3 THE CHIEF ENGINEER SOUTH (CONSTRUCTION) SOUTHERN RAILWAY, ERNAKULAM-682016. 4 THE DEPUTY CHIEF ENGINEER(CONSTRUCTION) SOUTHERN RAILWAY, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695584. BY ADV SRI.A.DINESH RAO, SC, RAILWAYS THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 07.12.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
WP(C).No.25003/2021 2 JUDGMENT Dated this the 7th day of December, 2021 The petitioner is a railway contractor, who undertook works as evidenced by Exts.P1 and P2. According to the petitioner, the value of the contract comes to Rs.11,65,51,741.97/-. The petitioner states that he has completed substantial portion of the work
The judgment continues below.
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