I APHC010300072025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GANNAMANENI RAMAKRISHNA PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO: 14970 OF 2025 Between: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Base complex, Rajahmundry Asset, Rajahmundry, PIN-533106. Instrumentation, Sri k.Vairaprakasam Represented by its General Manager, ...Petitioner AND The Andhra Pradesh Micro and Small Enterprises Faciliattion Council, (APMSEFC), Visakhapatnam. M/s Devi Engineering and Constructions Private Limited, Plot No.20, Flat No. G1, IVY Grand, Ground Floor, Narasannanagar, Suryarao Peta, Kakinada-533003 AP. 1. ...Respondents Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction, more particularly one in the nature of a Writ of Certiorari, and call for records in Reference No. 575/A2/2024 on the file of the A.P. Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council and quash and set aside the proceedings in Reference No. 575/A2/2024 on the file of the A.P. Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council, Visakhapatnam by setting aside the impugned order dated 18.03.2025 as being without being jurisdiction, illegal, arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of MSMED Act. lA NO: 2 OF 2025 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to stay all further proceedings in Reference no. 575/A2/2024 before the Respondent no.1 i.e., A.P. Micro & Small Enterprises Facilitation Council, Visakhapatnam pending the final disposal of the above writ petition. lA NO: 3 OF 2025 Between: M/s Devi Engineering and Constructions Private Limited, Plot No.20, Flat No. G1, IVY Grand, Ground Floor, Narasannanagar, Suryarao Peta, Kakinada- 533003 AP. ...Vacate Petitioner/Respondent AND Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Base complex, Rajahmundry Asset, Rajahmundry, PIN-533106. Represented by its General Manager, Instrumentation, Sri k.Vairaprakasam 1. ... Respondent/Petitioner The Andhra Pradesh Micro and Small Enterprises Faciliattion Council, (APMSEFC), Visakhapatnam. 2. ...Respondent/ Respondent Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to vacate the Interim order dated: 23.06.2025 passed in I.A.No.1 of 2025 in W.P.No.14970 of 2025. IA‘N0:4 0F 2025 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to recall the interim order dt.23-06-2025 passed in W.P. No. 14970/2025 the interest of justice. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI CH DHANUNJAYA, SENIOR COUNSEL REPRESENTING SRI D S SIVADARSHAN Counsel for the Respondent No.1: GP FOR INDUSTRIES & COMMERCE Counsel for the Respondent No.2: SRI K CHIDAMBARAM, SENIOR COUNSEL REPRESENTING SMT. V SESHA KUMARI The Court made the following order: APHC010300072025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) [3328] THURSDAY.THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE GANNAMANENI RAMAKRISHNA PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO: 14970 OF 2025 Between: 1.0IL AND NATURAL GAS CORPORATION, BASE COMPLEX, RAJAHMUNDRY REPRESENTED BY ITS GENERAL MANAGER, INSTRUMENTATION, SRI K.VAIRAPRAKASAM ASSET, RAJAHMUNDRY, PIN-533106. ...PETITIONER AND 1.THE ANDHRA PRADESH MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES FACILIATTION COUNCIL, (APMSEFC), VISAKHAPATNAM. 2. M/S DEVI ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTIONS PRIVATE IVY GRAND, GROUND SURYARAO PETA, KAKINADA- LIMITED, PLOT NO.20, FLAT NO. G1 FLOOR, NARASANNANAGAR, 533003 AP. ...RESPONDENT(S): Counsel for the Petitioner: 1.DSSIVADARSHAN Counsel for the Respondent(S): 1.GP FOR INDUSTRIES COMMERCE 2.VSESHA KUMARI 2 The Court made the following ORAL ORDER: Heard Sri K.Srinivasa Rao, Ld. Counsel for the Writ Petitioner (in W.P.No.595 of 2024), Sri Ch. Dhanunjaya, Ld. Senior Counsel appearingon behalf of Sri D.S. Sivadarshan, Ld. Counsel for the Writ Petitioner (in W.P.No.14970 of 2025), Ms. Sudeepthi Potiuri, Ld. Asst. Government Pleader for Industries and Sri K. Chidambaram, Ld. Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of Ms. V. Sesha Kumari, Ld. Counsel for the Respondent No.2 (in both the Writ Petitions). The present Writ Petition is filed seeking the following prayer: 2. “In view of the above, it is humbly prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction, more particularly one in the nature of a Writ of Certiorari, and call for records in Reference No. 575/A2/2024 on the file of the A.P. Micro & Small Enterprises Facilitation Council and quash and proceedings in Reference No. 575/A2/2024 on the file of the A.P. Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council, Visakhapatnam by setting aside the impugned order dated 18.03.2025 as being without being jurisdiction, illegal, arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of MSMED Act and pass such other order or orders as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case. ” The Order passed by the Andhra Pradesh Micro & Small Enterprises Facilitation Council (APMSEFC), Visakhapatnam (Respondent No.1) is under challenge. The said Order has been passed on the preliminary objections on maintainability raised by the Writ Petitioner herein on a Reference filed by Respondent No.2 under Section 18 of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006 (MSMED Act, 2006). set aside the 3. The facts in the present case which are necessary for the disposal of the present Writ Petition are that the Respondent No.2 has filed a Reference under Section 18 of the MSMED Act, 2006 before the Respondent No.1 claiming an amount of Rs.2,47,76,621/-, which also includes 36% interest towards the alleged unpaid invoices under the subject contract; and that it is 4. 3 submitted that the disputes under Reference solely arose from the contract dated 23.09.2022. It is the submission of Sri Ch. Dhanunjaya, Ld. Senior Counsel appearing for the Writ Petitioner that as on the date of contract, the Respondent No.2 is categorized as a ‘Medium Enterprise’ and the said status had continued up to March-2024 and in the month of April-2024 the category of Respondent No.2 had been changed to ‘Small Enterprise’, submit that under these circumstances, it does not entitle the Respondent No.2 to make a claim for an amount of Rs.2,47,76,621/- basing on the contract awarded to it admittedly on 23.09.2022 under the Medium Enterprise. 5. He would 6. Sri Ch. Dhanunjaya, Ld. Senior Counsel for the Writ Petitioner has drawn the attention of this Court to the print-out from the Website with regard to the classification of the Respondent No.2 for the years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 (Ex.P.2). He would submit that from 2021-22 to 2023- 24, the Respondent No.2 has been categorized as ‘Medium Type’; and that only for the Financial Year 2024-25, the Respondent No.2 is categorized as ‘Small Enterprise’ i.e., from 27.04.2024. 7. Sri Ch. Dhanunjaya, Ld. Senior Counsel has also drawn the attention of this Court to the statement of defence submitted by the Writ Petitioner herein (Ex.P.4). 8. Finally, when the Ld. Senior Counsel has taken this Court through the content of the impugned Order (Ex.P.1), this Court has noticed that the complete content of the Impugned Order had not been made available to the parties (Writ Petitioner as well as the Respondent No.2). The Impugned Order is incomplete inasmuch as the last sentence in the first page (Ex.P.1) is not complete and the continuity on the next page did not have relation with the last sentence in the previous page. 4 However, the operative portion of the impugned Order, as what emerges from the Order of Respondent No.1 (impugned herein), is usefully extracted hereunder: 9. f “The claimant Sri G.V. Gangadhar, Managing Director is present. Rajendranadh Singh Negi is present, submitted statement of defense informing that the claim is ineligible as the enterprise is not MSME. In this regard, the council verified the documents submitted by the claimant and found that the category of the unit is comes under Small as per Udyam certificate. ” The above extract would indicate that the Respondent No.1 had passed a cryptic Order without discussing the material that it had considered for arriving at the final decision, thereby, holding that the Respondent No.2 herein ‘comes under Small as per Udyam certificate’. On behalf of respondent CGM (ONGC) Sri The respondent 9. In the light of the above facts, this Court would have no hesitation to hold that the Order passed by the Respondent No.1 dated 18.03.2025 (Ex.P.1) (impugned herein) is cryptic in nature which does not disclose the material considered by the Respondent No.1 for arriving at such a decision. 10. In the above premise, the Order dated 18.03.2025 passed by the Respondent No.1 (Ex.P.1) is set aside. Respondent No.1 is directed to reconsider the case on merit once again and pass a Speaking Order by clearly referring to the material that the Tribunal (Respondent No.1) had considered for arriving at a final decision. For this purpose, the parties are given liberty to file any other material, which they think relevant and also raise any other objections as they deem fit within four (04) weeks from today. Needless to state that the Respondent No.1 shall consider all the aspects on either side and pass a Speaking Order within eight (08) weeks from today and communicate such Order to the parties as expeditiously as possible. It is made clear that this Court has not expressed anything on merit. 11. With the above observations and directions, this Writ Petition stands partly allowed to the extent indicated above. 12. 5 13. Interlocutory Applications, if any, stand closed in terms of this order. Sd/- A. VIJAYA BABU ASSISTANT REGISTRAR //TRUE COPY// ^Officer SECTI To, 1. The Andhra Pradesh Micro and Small Enterprises Faciliattion (APMSEFC), Visakhapatnam. One CC to Sri D S Sivadarshan, Advocate [OPUC] Two CCs to GP for Industries & Commerce Pradesh [OUT] One CC to Smt. V Sesha Kumari, Advocate [OPUC] Two CD Copies Council, 2. 3. High Court of Andhra 4. 5. TF HIGH COURT DATED:17/07/2025 ORDER WP NO. 14970 OF 2025 c8^ ^v) 2 2 JUL 2025 Jgl PARTLY ALLOWING THE W.P., WITHOUT COSTS