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2022 DIGILAW 318 (JHR)

Surendra Prasad Sinha v. State of Jharkhand

2022-03-22

RAJESH SHANKAR

body2022
ORDER : 1. The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon the respondents to pay professional fee of the petitioner for his engagement made by the respondent no. 4-the Superintendent of Police, Latehar to conduct the cases before this Court in relation to extremists/Naxalites who opted to surrender before the State Government in pursuance of Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation policy of the Government of Jharkhand for which the State Government decided to engage lawyers for defending such cases in the trial court as well as before this Court. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in pursuance of engagement letter dated 24.02.2018 issued by the respondent no. 4, the petitioner conducted the cases of aforesaid nature before this Court. Thereafter, the petitioner submitted the professional fee bills on different dates before the respondent no. 4, however, the same were not paid which has compelled the petitioner to file the present writ petition. 3. Mr. Binit Chandra, AC to AAG-III appearing on behalf of the respondents, refers to paragraph nos. 10 and 11 to the counter affidavit dated 09.03.2022 filed on behalf of the respondents, sworn by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Special Branch and submits that as per recommendation and certification made by the respondent no. 4, the petitioner’s professional fee bills for an amount of Rs. 2,38,000/- was processed by the Additional Director General of Police, Special Branch, Jharkhand, Ranchi who, vide letter no. 764 dated 05.10.2021 requested the D.I.G. (Budget), Jharkhand, Ranchi for getting approval and allotment of the said amount so as to make payment of the same to the petitioner. Thereafter, the D.I.G. (Budget), Jharkhand, Ranchi vide letter no. 631 dated 08.10.2021 requested the Deputy Secretary, Department of Home, Prison and Disaster Management, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi for approval and allotment of the said admitted fee bills submitted by the petitioner. Few other professional fee bills submitted by the petitioner have also been processed and similar request has been made to the concerned authority for allotment of fund in favour of the respondent no. 4 so as to make payment to the petitioner. The respondents have, however, not specifically admitted the rest amount of professional fee bills claimed by the petitioner. 4. 4 so as to make payment to the petitioner. The respondents have, however, not specifically admitted the rest amount of professional fee bills claimed by the petitioner. 4. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and considering the stand taken in the counter affidavit dated 09.03.2022 filed on behalf of the respondents, it appears that the respondents have specifically admitted the fee bills of the petitioner to the extent of Rs. 2,38,000/- as well as few other professional fee bills. It is a matter of concern that even after admitting certain amount of professional fee bills submitted by the petitioner for payment, the same has not been paid to the petitioner for several months, rather the authorities are communicating with each other with respect to approval and allotment of the amount. 5. Hence, the respondent no. 2 is directed to ensure payment of the admitted amount of professional fee bills to the petitioner within four weeks from today. 6. The writ petition is disposed of with aforesaid direction.