THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE VENKATESWARLU NIMMAGADDA CONTEMPT CASE NO: 1952/2022 ORDER: 1. This Contempt Case has been filed complaining willful disobedience in implementing the Order dated 11.03.2024 passed by this Court in I.A.No.1 of 2021 in W.P.No.23103 of 2021. 2. Heard Sri Madhava Rao Nalluri and Smt. S. Siva Kumari, learned counsel for the Respondent and perused the material available on record. 3. The petitioner filed W.P.No.23103 of 2021 to declare the action of the respondents in not releasing an amount of Rs.1,52,74,924/- due and payable to the petitioner under LS-II and Part Bill in respect of the Agreement No.59 SE/2018-19, dated 08.08.2018, under “Neeru Chettu” programme, even after the same was passed by the respondent No.4 as early as on 29.03.2019. 4. During pendency of W.P.No.23103 of 2021, this Court was pleased to pass an interim direction in I.A.No.1 of 2021 on 13.04.2022, which reads as follows: "Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Government Pleader for Irrigation. In the circumstances, the respondents are directed to pay the approved and final bill amount due to the petitioner within a period of six (6) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order." 5. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that, without implementing the orders of this Hon'ble Court in I.A.No.1 of 2021 in 2 NV,J C.C.No.1952 of 2022 W.P.No.23103 of 2021 dated 13.04.2022 in true spirit, the respondents deliberately flouted the orders of this Court and did not pay the amount to the petitioner within the stipulated time as directed by this Court. This inaction itself on the part of the respondents amounts to violation of the orders passed by this is Court in I.A.No.1 of 2021 in W.P.No.23103 of 2021 dated 13.04.2022. He further contends that, failure on the part of the respondents in implementing the orders of this Court would amount to disobedience of the orders of this Hon'ble Court, and, therefore, they are liable for punishment under Sections 10 to 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act. Complaining the same, the petitioner filed the present Contempt Case. 6. The 4th respondent/ Executive Engineer, I & CAD, filed counter affidavit, wherein, at paragraph No.4, it is submitted that the respondents are the Government employees and they will work only within the set of guidelines issued by the Government from time to time. In this regard, the Government decided to get verify all the remaining works based on the recommendations of V&E authorities on Neeru-Chettu works, so as to protect the valuable public money. Hence, the delay in payment of bill amount became inevitable. Immediately, after completion of works by the petitioner in the year 2019, the respondents have prepared the bills and uploaded the same in CFMS portal. Even now, if the verification of works completed by the teams of Engineers of Engineering Departments other than Water Resources Department, the bill would be processed by the 4th respondent. 3 NV,J C.C.No.1952 of 2022 7. In paragraph No.5, it is stated that, the respondents did not stop payment of the amounts to the petitioner and such nonpayment only happened due to non completion of the verification of works as instructed by the Government. After completion of verification of works by the inspection teams constituted by the District Collector and after submission of all verification reports to the Government, appropriate action for making the payments to the pending bills will be taken. 8. Similarly, in paragraph No.10, it is stated that, as per the orders of the Hon'ble High Court the gross amount of the bill has been taken into account i.e., an amount of Rs.1,52,74,924/- and prepared the 2nd part of bill with statutory deductions of Schedule -B items and it has been arrived net amount of Rs.1,35,89,103/- (i.e., 2nd and part bill), after finalization of final work bill. The balance amounts which are eligible will be released to the petitioner. On the basis of the counter-affidavit, the 5th respondent has requested this Court to close the Contempt Case against him. 9. The 5th respondent/ Pay and Accounts Officer (Works), filed a detailed counter-affidavit, wherein, at paragraph No.5, it is submitted that, the 1st and part bill vide CFMS.ID.No.2019-276002 for Rs.59,57,404/- (payment reference RBI1431926666809 dated 22.05.2019) has been paid to be petitioner before Constitution of the Inspection Team by the District Collector. Further, after 4 NV,J C.C.No.1952 of 2022 completion of verification by the Inspection Team the 2nd and part bill vide CFMS.ID.No.2022-1171791 for Rs.1,52,74,924/- has been submitted for payment by the 4th Respondent as per the orders issued in I.A.No.1 of 2021 in WP.No.23103 of 2021, the amount has to be paid to the petitioner is Rs.1,52,74,924/- only, whereas, the Executive Engineer, Irrigation Division, Eluru, submitted the 2nd & Part bill for Rs.1,52,74,924/- vide CFMS.ID.No.2022-1171791 and paid vide payment reference RBI31622387818, dated 11.11.2022 as detailed below:- Gross amount of the Bill Rs.1,52,74,904.56 Recoveries Rs. 16,83,801.00 Net amount Rs.1,35,89,103.56 10. The details of recoveries are mandatory/statutory recoveries that were affected from the bill as follows: Income Tax :- Rs.3,08,654/- Cess :-Rs.1,49,497/- NAC :- Rs. 14,950/- Seignorage Charges :- Rs.2,21,084/- CGST :- Rs.1,59,808/- SGST :- Rs.1,59,808/- EMD :- Rs.6,70,000/- _______________________ Total Rs. Rs.16,83,801/- _______________________ 5 NV,J C.C.No.1952 of 2022 11. He submits that the bill was prepared for an amount of Rs.1,52,74,924/-, with the statutory deduction of Schedule - B items i.e., TDS, CGST, SGST, NAC, Seigniorage Charges, EMD etc., During the preparation of the agreement, though the bill contains VAT, Labour Cess, NAC, Seigniorage Charges. As per the Government norms, GST has been added to the present conditions of the agreement. 12. As per the orders of this Court, the gross amount of the bill has been taken into account i.e., an amount of Rs.1,52,74,924/- and prepared the 2nd part bill with statutory deductions of Schedule -B items and it has been arrived for an amount of Rs.1,35,89,103/- (i.e., 2nd and part bill), the above payment was made to the petitioner for the 2nd & Part Bill only. Hence, the contention of the petitioner that the respondents have willfully disobeyed the directions of this Court is contrary to the facts and unsustainable, due to lack of any evidence. The contention of the petitioner that the respondents did not choose to pay the full claimed amount was not correct. As per the orders of this Court, the petitioner’s 2nd and part bill has been released after duly deducting the statutory recoveries duly following the orders of this Court in I.A.No.1 of 2021 in W.P.No.23103 of 2021 in true spirit. 13. The reply affidavit has been filed by the 4th respondent, reiterating the contentions urged in the counter affidavit. Similarly, the reply affidavit has been filed by the petitioner submitting that he filed the Writ Petition mentioning the 6 NV,J C.C.No.1952 of 2022 gross amount of Rs.1,63,68,095/- and after deducting an amount of Rs.10,93,171/-, the net amount payable is an amount of Rs.1,52,74,924/-. 14. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned counsel for the respondents and perused the material available on record. 15. On perusal of the entire material on record, it appears that the respondents approved the bill pertaining to the petitioner to the tune of Rs.1,52,74,924/-, was inspected by the team allotted by the District Collector for the work done with respect to construction of the Check Dam on Gunderu Vagu at 25.850 km of Jogannapalem Village of Denduluru Mandal, West Godavari District. 16. It is observed that the payment was delayed by the respondents only after following the set of guidelines issued from the Government from time to time, but the respondents did not stop the payment to the petitioner. The payment has been made only after the completion of the verification of the works as instructed by the Government. As per the orders of this Court, the gross amount of the bill has been taken for an amount of Rs.1,52,74,924/-, and the 2nd part bill was prepared with statutory deductions and finally, the net amount has been arrived for an amount of Rs.1,35,89,103/-, after finalization of the final work bill, thereby the balance amount to which the petitioner was eligible was released to him. The statutory and mandatory deductions that were effected from the gross amount of the bill were Income Tax, Cess, NAC, Seigniorage Charges, CGST, SGST, EMD totaling to an amount of Rs.16,83,801/-, thus arrived the net amount of 7 NV,J C.C.No.1952 of 2022 Rs.1,35,89,103.56 ps. The said payment has been paid by the respondents to the petitioner after deducting the statutory recoveries duly following the orders of this Court. Hence, this Court is of the opinion that there is no willful disobedience on part of the respondents in implementing the orders of this Court. 17. With the above observations, the Contempt Case is closed. No costs. Consequently, miscellaneous petitions pending, if any, in this contempt case shall stand closed. ________________________________ VENKATESWARLU NIMMAGADDA, J Date:19.08.2025 SSCCHH 8 NV,J C.C.No.1952 of 2022 THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE VENKATESWARLU NIMMAGADDA CONTEMPT CASE NO.1952 of 2022 19.08.2025 W W SSCCHH