HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH AT JAMMU Case No. :- WP(C) No. 49/2025 CM No. 95/2025 1. Kishore Kumar, Age 48 years S/o Sh. Piddu Ram, R/o Village Badgal Khurd Panchayat Dhok Jagir Tehsil Akhnoor District Jammu U.T. of J&K …..Petitioner (s)/Appellant(s) Through: Mr. Dalvinder Kumar, Adv. Vs 1. U.T. of J&K Through Commissioner Secretary to the Government Rural Department, Civil Secretariat, Jammu 2. Executive Engineer (REW) Rural Engineering Wing Jammu 3. Junior Engineer of REW Jammu 4. BDO Akhnoor 5. Sarpanch of Dhok Jagir Tehsil Akhnoor, District Jammu. .…. Respondent(s) Through: Ms. Priyanka Bhat, Adv. vice Mr. S.S. Nanda, Sr. AAG Coram: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE WASIM SADIQ NARGAL, JUDGE ORDER 29.01.2025 01. Through the medium of instant petition, the petitioner has sought following relief:- Writ of Mandamus commanding the respondents to make the payment for the work executed by the petitioner along with interest. 02. Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner is the resident of Village Badgal Khurd Panchayat Dhok Jagir and is earning his livelihood by doing some S. No. 33 2 WP(C) No. 49/2025 private work and has never executed any work before. Being one of the dedicated and responsible citizen of the Panchayat Dhok Jagir, he was entrusted the work of preservation of Lanes at Ward No. 1 and 5 by virtue of the Resolution formulated by the Panchayat under the Chairmanship of the Sarpanch Sh. Prabh Dayal. 03. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that pursuant to the resolution of the Panchayat Dhok Jagir, respondent no. 2 Executive Engineer of REW Jammu allotted the work order plan for the year 2020 vide No. PYT/DHOK/2019-20 dated 20.09.2019, which was estimated to be accomplished at Rs. 9,00,000 under the 14th Finance Commission Plan. 04. It is further submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that after the allotment of work order, the petitioner has started the work and was about to be completed under the supervision of respondent no. 3 Junior Engineer REW Jammu but meanwhile due to the pandemic of COVID 19, above site plan/work was closed/suspended by the respondents vide order dated 22.03.2020. 05. It is further submitted that after the end of COVID-19, the petitioner approached respondent nos. 2 to 5 and filed an application/representation to respondent no. 3 Junior Engineer and respondent no. 5, who happened to be the Sarpanch, for seeking permission to continue the work for the preservation of lanes in Ward No. 1 and 5 but petitioner received no response. 06. It is further submitted that Assistant Commissioner Panchayat, Jammu has issued an order No. 23-ACDJ of 2023 dated 04.07.2023 for the release of funds for the clearance of liabilities for work done and respondent no. 3 (Junior Engineer) also made measurement of the work as well as prepared the record of 3 WP(C) No. 49/2025 the works executed by the petitioner for preservation of lanes in Ward No. 1 and 5 of Village Dhok Jagir and Badgal Khund, Tehsil Akhnoor, District Jammu. 07. It is further submitted that the petitioner is earning his livelihood by doing some private work therefore he had no amount to spend on its own without any hope of return. The petitioner has taken amount for execution of work of preservation of lanes in ward No. 1 and 5 Village Dhok Jagir and Badgal Khund, Tehsil Akhnoor, District Jammu from the near and dear but now petitioner is not in a capacity to return the amount of the relatives because the respondents have not released the amount of Rs. 2,30,000, which was spent by petitioner in construction/preservation of lanes in Ward No. 1 and 5. 08. It is further submitted that the contract entered into between the petitioner and respondents was partly performed by the petitioner till the emergence of COVID-19 but after the end of COVID when petitioner approached the respondents no doubt they evaluated the work executed by the petitioner and promised to release, the amount whatever assessed, but till date have not released the same. 09. It is further submitted that respondents committed the breach of the contract, therefore they are also liable to pay the compensation for the loss sustained by the petitioner along with the amount of execution of work so assessed by the respondents. 10. Feeling aggrieved of the inaction on the part of the respondents, petitioner has approached this Court by way of the instant writ petition. 11. After arguing for a while, learned counsel for the petitioner, at this stage, submits that the petitioner would feel satisfied in case, the instant petition is disposed of by directing the respondents to accord consideration to the case of 4 WP(C) No. 49/2025 the petitioner by treating the instant writ petition as representation and to decide the same within some stipulated time. 12. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner at length and perused the record. 13. Issue notice to the respondents. 14. Ms. Priyanka Bhat, Advocate appearing vice Mr. S.S. Nanda, learned Sr. AAG waives notice on behalf of the respondents and submits that she is not averse to the aforesaid preposition, provided the case of the petitioner is directed to be accorded consideration under rules and as per law. 15. With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, the instant writ petition is taken up for final disposal and, is accordingly, disposed of by directing the respondents to treat the instant writ petition as a representation and accord consideration to the same within six weeks from the date a copy of this order as well as copy of the instant writ petition along with the annexure(s) are made available to the respondents, strictly under rules and as per law. The order of consideration which is likely to be passed be forwarded to the petitioner by the respondents through registered post. 16. It is made clear that while according consideration to the case of the petitioner, the respondents are directed to accord due consideration to the order No. 23-ACPJ of 2023 dated 04.07.2023 by virtue of which the funds have been released by the Director Finance, Rural Development Department and pursuant to the same, the sanction has been accorded for further release of amount to clear the liabilities accrued on account of the completed civil works under 14th FCA/B2V in favour of Halqa Panchayats of District Jammu as per the details given in Annexure, a perusal whereof, reveals that the funds have also been 5 WP(C) No. 49/2025 released in so far as the claim of the petitioner is concerned, which figures at serial no. 14 for Dhok Jagir, Akhnoor to the tune of Rs. 2,30,000/-. 17. Respondents are also directed to accord due consideration to the measurement book, which has been placed on record along with the instant petition while according due consideration to the case of the petitioner. Let the entire exercise be done within a period of six weeks from today. 18. Thus, the instant writ petition, is accordingly, ‘disposed of’ along with connected application(s) in the manner indicated above. (Wasim Sadiq Nargal) Judge JAMMU 29.01.2025 Mihul Whether the order is speaking : Yes/No Whether the order is reportable : Yes/No