A local court has dismissed an appeal filed by the Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) and its officials against a decree directing them to pay ₹ 25 lakh to a printing company for publicity work carried out under the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2017.
The appeal was filed by the MC through its officials, including an executive officer and a junior engineer. The court further noted that Priyanka Chauhan, who was stated to have been associated with the Swachh Bharat Mission and had allegedly communicated with the printer regarding the designs, was not examined as a witness by the defendants. It drew an adverse inference from her non-examination. The court held that the fact that another firm, Rainbow Signs, had received a work order and payment did not by itself disprove Avdesh Printers’ claim. The appeal was accordingly dismissed with costs, and the trial court’s decree was upheld.
District judge Sanjay Sandhir, in his judgment pronounced on September 8, upheld the November 21, 2024, order of the civil judge (senior division), which had ordered the settlement of M/s Avdesh Printers’ payment.
