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2003 DIGILAW 37 (PAT)

Hari Lal Sahani v. State Of Bihar

2003-01-10

AFTAB ALAM

body2003
Judgment 1. Heard Mr. Indu Shekhar Prasad Sinha, Sr. Advocate appearing in support of this writ petition. 2. The petitioner is the Secretary of the Fishermen Co-operative Society and he is facing a certificate proceeding for recovery of certain dues against the society. In this writ petition a prayer is made for quashing the certificate proceeding. Mr. Sinha advanced several points in support of the prayer for quashing the certificate case(s) pending against the petitioner. 3. I, however, do not find any substance or merit in the objections raised by the petitioner with regard to the proceedings instituted against the petitioner. The only submissions made by Mr. Sinha which warrants some consideration is that though the petitioner had filed his objection under Section 9 of the Bihar & Orissa Public Demand Recovery Act, the Certificate Officer had proceeded to take coercive measures against the petitioner for recovery of the certificate amount even without considering those objections and even without passing any order on those objections. 4. The JC to G.P. 9 appearing for the State submitted that the fact was otherwise. It was stated on behalf of the State that the petitioner gave an undertaking before the Certificate Officer for payment of the certificate amount in instalments but he went back on the assurance given by him and did not make any payment at all. 5. Mr. Sinha pointed out that the counter affidavit itself indicated the circumstances in which the so-called undertaking was obtained from the petitioner. In the counter affidavit it is stated that a non- bailable warrant of arrest was issued against the petitioner. He was arrested and brought before the Certificate Officer on 16.6.2002 and it was in those coercive circumstances that the petitioner had given the undertaking for payment of certificate dues. 6. Be that as it may on hearing counsel for the parties and on going through the writ petition and the counter affidavit, this case is disposed of with a direction to the Certificate Officer to verify from the order sheet of the proceeding whether or not the petitioner had filed an objection under Section 9 of the Act and whether any final order was passed on his objections after giving him an opportunity of hearing. In case the objection filed by the petitioner remains undisposed of on the record of the proceeding, the Certificate Officer wit) hear the petitioner on his objection and pass an order, in accordance with law. He will further proceed in the matter in the light of the order passed by him. 7. In order to facilitate any early disposal of the matter, the petitioner is directed to appear before the Certificate Officer along with a copy of this order by January 31, 2003. The Certificate Officer will make a verification from the order sheet of the proceeding as directed in this order and if need be fix a date of hearing the parties on the objection filed by the petitioner under Section 9 of the Act so as to dispose of the objection within two months from the date of his appearance. In case from the order sheet it appears that the objection already stands disposed of the Certificate Officer will be free to proceed in the matter in accordance with law.