High Court directs contractor to complete Kohima-Mao stretch of road by March

The Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, has directed the contractor undertaking the maintenance work of the National Highway-02 along Kohima-Mao stretch, to complete it by next month.

‘The NHIDCL and the Authority Engineer should supervise the work in such a way that the contractor, M/S Fortune Groups, completes the work within the timeline of March 31, 2023,’ the court ordered.

The contractor and the authority engineer have also been directed to file affidavits showing the latest progress made on the next date, while listing the matter on March 9.

The court had on Feb. 22 directed the authority engineer and contractor to file affidavits showing the progress of the work in detail.

In this regard, the contractor claimed in its affidavit that 25.01% of the total work had been completed while the authority engineer said it was only 23.18%. However, after hearing from both the parties, it seemed the disparity was because of one gave the figure as per the work completed on the ground irrespective of the work items while the other gave the figure based on the work items which are fully completed.

The contractor submitted that it would be challenging to complete the work by March 31 but would give all efforts to finish it as per the timeline. The authority engineer also said that it would be practically challenging to meet the dateline, yet possible technically.

After hearing from the both the parties, the court directed the contractor to complete the work by March 31.

Regarding the pending bills, the Authority Engineer assured to release as soon as the contractor submits the required documents.