BHUBANESWAR: In a major embarrassment for the state government, a local court on Friday ordered the seizure of assets of a chief engineer (building) for failing to abide by its direction to clear pending dues of Rs 18 lakh of a company which had constructed a major public establishment in the city 42 years back.
Following the order, officials appointed by the court seized the assets including chair, desk, sofa, computers, printers, ceiling fans and other items from his office for auction. The company, Construction India, had constructed the Heads of Departments Building, commonly known as ‘Na Tala’, and had pending dues amounting to Rs 6 lakh.
Birendra Kumar Pathak, a managing partner of the company, had approached the high court over non-payment of dues. The court had then appointed an arbitrator, who passed an order in 1982 directing the state government to pay Rs 6 lakh to Construction India, but to no avail. The matter was also taken up in the Supreme Court which upheld the order of the arbitrator appointed by the high court.
Last year, Civil Judge of Senior Division Court, Bhubaneswar, had directed the state government to pay the pending dues along with interest to Construction India. The chief engineer (building) was party to the case and did not act on repeated notices by the court to make the payment. Subsequently, the court passed an order to seize the assets from the office of the chief engineer (buildings) and auction them to realise the pending amount with interest of the company.
“We had to fight a long battle of more than 40 years. On the court’s order, assets like computers, air-conditioners, steel shelves, chairs and other articles were seized,” said late Birendra Pathak’s son Dinesh.
The office of the chief engineer (building) wore a deserted look on the day and employees were unable to work as their computers were seized by the court. Meanwhile, left red-faced the government released the pending dues by depositing the money at a court here just a few hours after the assets of the office of chief engineer were seized.