Delhi HC issues guidelines for Municipal Corporations and Contractors

The Delhi High Court has laid down certain guidelines, to be followed by contractors and Municipal Corporations, to ensure that works are duly carried out as per the quality standards prescribed, and there is proper record of the work done..The Single Judge Bench of Justice Pratibha M Singh laid down the said guidelines while deciding a batch of appeals by the Municipal Corporations against orders of the trial court, in favour of the contractors..In these cases, various work orders were placed on contractors by the Corporations. However, after the said works were executed by them, the payments were not made by the Corporations, which led to the filing of recovery suits in the trial court..Some of the irregularities, as observed by Justice Singh, in the process adopted by the contractors and the Corporations are as follows:.In most cases, the contractors who are awarded the work orders do not submit the interim or final bills to the Engineer-in-Charge for approval.The procedure for obtaining labour clearance certificate from the Labour Officer is not followed.Once the bills are passed, contractors are made to wait endlessly for their payments on the ground of non-availability of funds.Even for refunds of Security Deposit and Earnest Money deposits, the Contractor is made to wait till the final payment is made.The measurement books and the photographs of work, actually carriedout, are not produced in evidence..Justice Singh stated that the above process is contrary to the General Conditions of Contract and thus passed the following guidelines for the work to be done effectively and effeciently:.Along with the work order, all the Clauses of the General Conditions of Contract should be attached.On the award of the work order, periodic inspections of the work being carried out should be done by the Engineer-in-Charge.If possible, photographs of the works at different stages should be taken and maintained on the record.Interim bills should be submitted by the Contractor – duly certifying the work which has been carried out.Final bills should be submitted by the Contractor – duly certifying the work carried out along with photographs.The bill should be scrutinised by the Engineer-in-Charge, works should be recorded in the measurement book and thereafter, the bill should be passed.Once the bill is passed, the payment schedule of 6 months and 9 months should be adhered to. Delay in payments would result in Interest being levied.For refunds of Security deposit and Earnest Money deposit, the Contractor should unscrupulously comply with the conditions in Clauses 17 and 45. For refunds to be made, payment of final bill need not be awaited. Once the conditions of Clauses 17 and 45 are complied with and the final bill is passed, refunds ought to be made.In suits relating to recovery of Contractor’s dues, all the evidence including the NIT, General Conditions of Contract, periodic inspection reports, final bill as submitted, final bill as passed, measurements carried out, photographs etc., should be produced and duly exhibited.IT infrastructure ought to be created to maintain records of the work digitally. Maintenance of digital records will make it more transparent and easily accessible for the officials and for production in the Court in case of future litigation..The Court also observed that once the work is carried out, payments ought not be delayed, as delay in payments leads to a compromise on the availability of quality civil work for the Corporations, who take care of basic amenities for citizens such as roads, pavements, civil works, sewerage lines etc..Read Judgment: