SAMBALPUR: The Civil Judge Court in Sambalpur has ordered the seizure of moveable assets, including furniture from multiple government offices for non-payment of dues to a contractor.
The order was issued recently for seizure of assets from the offices of the basin manager and chief engineer of Upper Mahanadi Basin in Burla, the superintending engineer of Hirakud Dam Circle and the executive engineer of Sambalpur Irrigation Division.
According to reports, the case dates back to 2000 when Orient Construction Private Limited completed work on Sambalpur Ring Road. Despite completing the project, the company did not receive its payment. By 2005, the outstanding dues had reached Rs 52 lakh.
The contractor approached the court of the Senior Civil Judge in 2009, by which time the amount had increased to Rs 1.36 crore including interest. The court had then directed payment of six per cent interest on the outstanding amount.
However, even after repeated notices, the payment was not made. Till August 2024, the total dues had increased to Rs 1.88 crore. Taking into view the continued non-compliance, the court ordered seizure of furniture from the government offices concerned and attachment of property to recover the pending dues.
Acting on the order, court officials on Friday reached the chief engineer’s office in the Water Resources department. However, to their surprise, they found that the name of the office had been changed. Besides, there was no furniture inside the office.
Chief engineer Sushil Behera refused to comment on the matter and clarified that the office name was changed in 2021.
A legal representative of the construction company said movable assets which were supposed to the seized, have already been shifted from the offices involved in the cases. The pending dues currently stand at `1.92 crore. Sources said the recent development will be informed to the court on April 7.