Patna, Nov. 14: The high court today stayed the single bench order directing Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) to pay 75 per cent of dues to A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited, which provides sanitation services in select parts of the state capital.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Rekha M. Doshit and Justice Birendra Prasad Verma passed the direction on an appeal filed by PMC seeking stay on the single bench order. The court also asked the state government and A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited to file their counter affidavits by November 28, the next date of hearing.
On October 25, a high court single bench had directed PMC to pay 75 per cent of the total billed amount within four days, failing which strict action would be taken against the authorities concerned.
The civic body appealed before the division bench and sought a stay on the order. Appearing for PMC, Bishwa Bibhuti Singh submitted that the order should be stayed, as it was passed without giving any opportunity for hearing.
Singh submitted that the company did not invoke the provisions of arbitration clause to settle the dispute and directly approached the court.
He contended that the six-member committee, constituted by the PMC commissioner to look into the inflated bills of the company, also found irregularities in the work done by the contractor.
Anurag Saurav, appearing for A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited, submitted that it has been 19 months since PMC had not paid a single penny to the company despite fulfilling all the requisite criteria according to the agreement signed between PMC and the company.
In January 2010, A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited entered into a pact with the PMC to provide sanitation services in nine of the 72 wards of the city. It suspended the work of carting garbage from July this year after payment was not made despite writing to the authorities concerned in this regard.
Recently, the PMC empowered standing committee and its board passed a resolution in favour of the company saying that 75 per cent payment should be made to A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited and the rest would be paid after the complete verification of records and bills, Saurav submitted.
Saurav said his client would file a counter affidavit on November 28. “We still hope that the court will pass a favourable judgment.”
