Full Text
HIGH COURT OF DELHI
Date of Decision: 13th December, 2021
ANJANA GOSAIN ..... Petitioner
Through: Ms. Shalini Nair, Advocate along with Petitioner in person.
Through: Mr. Manashay Jha, Ms. Mahima Arora, Advocates for Mr. Sameer Vashisht, ASC, GNCTD (M-
JUDGMENT
9013980691) with Mr. Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal, Principal Secretary (Law) & Mr. Anil Mittal, Scientist (NISIC) CORAM: JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)
1. This hearing has been done in physical Court. Hybrid mode is permitted in cases where permission is being sought from the Court. Vide the said order CM Appl. 19643/2021
2. The present matter concerns the outstanding bills of the Petitioner- Ms. Anjana Gosain who is a lawyer, and the non-payment of the outstanding fee by the Respondent.
3. Vide order dated 14th September, 2021, this Court had sought a Status Report as to the eleven pending fee bills of the Petitioner out of which seven were, at that time, stated to be pending with the Revenue Department, GNCTD, and in respect of four bills, the memo was sought by the Authority. 2021:DHC:4145 A direction was issued to the Respondents to process the payments in respect of the eleven pending bills of the Petitioner, within four weeks.
4. Even today, the current position is that sanctions have been issued in respect of the seven memos which are listed at Serial Nos. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10, as indicated in the Status Report. The Table indicating the status of the pending bills in respect of the Petitioner is extracted below: Sl No. Case No. Amoun t Department Remarks 1 WPC 5013/2011 4950 Home The Home Department has sought Undertaking regarding appearance in the Hon’ble Court in the matter of WPC 2013/2011 vide letter dated 24/11/2021 and previous letters 20/09/2021 & its reminder dated 05/10/2021 and 10/09/2021, from the said Ex-Govt. Counsel, but the same is still awaited from her side. 2 LPA 304/2011 5450 Revenue Payment of Rs.4,950/-vide bill No. CB-967 sent to PAO for the payment of Rs.4455/- on 22/11/2021.
3. WPC 2786/2011 5450 Revenue Sanction order No. F/2021/SR- IX/DSCW/50009 dated 07/09/2021 for Rs.4950/- has been issued. Bill No. CB-506, UTR No. SBINO300117317028.
4. WPC 8247/2011 4950 Revenue Sanction order No. F/2021/SR- IX/DSCW/5009 dated 07/09/2021 for Rs.4950/- has been issued. Bill No. CB-506, UTR No. SBINO300117317028 for Rs.4455/-.
5. CM 6200 Revenue Sanction order NO. 1451/2011 F/2890/RB/Div. Comm./(HQ)/R/2021/6276 dated 06/09/2021 for Rs.4950/- has been issued. Bill sent to PAO-VI fro payment of Rs.4455/- on 12.09.2021 6 WPC 2680/2013 6500 Revenue Bill could not be processed as the Respondent could not be ascertained yet.
7. WPC 4430/2013 5700 Revenue Sanction Order No.
F.SDM/MT/Professional Bill/2021/34248-250 dated 08/09/2021 issued for payment of Rs.4950. Bill has been sent to PAO for payment made on 13.09.2021.
8. WPC 3630/2014 6500 Revenue Sanction order No. F.3(405)/ADV.BILL/SDM (M)/2019/232 dated 07/09/2021 for Rs.4950/- has been issued. Bill NO. CB-404 has been sent to PAO for payment of Rs.4455/on 09/09/2021.
9. WPC 3530/2014 6500 Revenue Sanction order No. SDM/DW/Court Fee/2021- 21/50242 dated 07/09/2021 issued for payment of Rs.4950/bill No. CB-514, UTR No. SBINO300117317007 for Rs.4455/-. 10 WPC 7443/2014 6450 Revenue Sanction order No. F.1/ SDM/PB/089662884/2021/5663 dated 04/09/2021 for Rs.4950/bill No. CB-383, UTR No. SBINO300117085087 for Rs.4455/-.
5. Let a copy of the Status Report be supplied to Ms. Gosain, so that she can confirm whether she has received the payments qua these bills or not. Insofar as payment qua Serial No. 1 in the Status Report is concerned, it is stated that some clarification, as extracted hereinabove, is awaited from Ms. Gosain. Let Ms. Gosain provide the same, if not already provided by her.
6. Let Ms. Gosain also provide her comments in response to the Table in the Status Report, as extracted hereinabove, by adding an extra column in the Table provided in paragraph 4 of the Status Report. The same is to be presented to the Court on the next date, with an advance copy to the ld. Counsel for the Respondents.
7. Ms. Gosain submits that some bills are not yet reflected in the Status Report. Let the same be communicated to the Principal Secretary (Law), GNCTD, as also to Mr. Sameer Vashisht, ld. ASC for the GNCTD. If by the next date, all the memos of the Petitioner are not cleared, this Court may be compelled to take action for non-compliance of orders and fix responsibility on the specific officers concerned.
8. Insofar as the Single Window System for smooth and seamless payments to the panel counsels is concerned, Mr. Anil Kumar Mittal, Scientist, National Informatics Centre (hereinafter “NIC”) and Mr. Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal, Principal Secretary (Law), GNCTD are both present in Court. They have submitted a Chart to show the timeline for the preparation of the software and the final deployment of the same.
9. A perusal of the said Chart shows that the proposal for development of the software is stated to have been approved by the GNCTD. The hiring of the technical manpower for the development of the Online Single Window System is also stated to have taken place. Currently, the Functional Requirement Study (FRS) has been prepared and the same has to be studied by the NIC. The approval of the FRS and the system requirement is to be done by the Department of Law, Justice & Legislative Affairs (hereinafter “Dept. of Law”), GNCTD. Thereafter, the software and Graphical User Interface (hereinafter “GUI”) designing has to begin. The entire process involving the study and approval of the FRS, preparation of the software, GUI designing, coding, and validation would, as per Mr. Mittal, take approximately 25 to 30 days.
10. Accordingly, list this matter on 17th January, 2022 in order to enable the NIC or the Dept. of Law, GNCTD to produce the software or the GUI design thereof, for the Single Window System which is to be set up, in an electronic form, before this Court.
11. Mr. Anil Kumar Mittal, Scientist (NIC) and Mr. Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal, Principal Secretary (Law), GNCTD are permitted to join the virtual proceedings on the next date.
12. This matter shall be treated as part-heard.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUDGE DECEMBER 13, 2021 Rahul/SK/AD