Bhubaneswar: Court Orders Auction of Chief Engineer’s Office Assets Over Unsettled Contractor’s Bill

Bhubaneswar: The office furniture and assets of Chief Engineer Dukhabandu Behera in the Bhubaneswar Building Division are set to be auctioned due to unpaid bills totalling Rs 18 lakh owed to Construction India Company. The auction follows a court order in response to a case filed by contractor Dinesh Pathak, who built a nine-storey building in 1998 but was not compensated by Behera. Despite an earlier court verdict on April 29 and a requested extension by Behera, the payment was not settled within the stipulated time, leading to the current auction order.

The items to be auctioned include an executive chair, executive table, office chairs, sofas, standing AC, Dell all-in-one, HP laserjet printer, tables, LG smart TV, keyboards, optical mouse, wall fans, UPS (Microtek), Microtek (Tabular) inverters, and a round glass tea table. The court, under Rule 65 of Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure, issued a notice regarding the sale of the attached property to satisfy the decree-holder’s claim of Rs. 9,19,355.

In response to the impending auction, the State government intervened and paid the outstanding amount to the contractor through online mode, prompting the cancellation of the auction. R&B’s Senior Divisional Accounts Officer, Sambit Kumar Mishra, clarified that the payment was made as per the Chief Engineer’s instruction to the Senior Civil Judge, Bhubaneswar.