The Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been fined Rs 9 lakh for failing to pay the dues to a contractor since 2015, Bar and Bench reported on Monday.

In an order passed on September 4, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh said the administration was playing “hide and seek” with judicial orders.

A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Mohammad Yousuf Wani rejected the administration’s submission that the dues were not paid because of a scarcity of funds.

“It shocks the conscience that we tout ourselves as fifth largest economy in the world, aspiring to be the third largest soon, but do not have funds to pay the legitimate dues of the respondent [contractor] amount to Rs 20.97 lakh, which denigrates and puts to doubt the lofty claims of the economic prowess of the country,” said the court.

The order came on a petition by the contractor that the government had not paid a part of the dues for work completed in 2015. When his petition was first heard by a single-judge bench of the High Court, nearly Rs 29 lakh were due to him. The bench had asked the administration to pay the due with an interest of 6% per annum.

The contractor filed a contempt case when the administration failed to pay him.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration, meanwhile, filed a review petition challenging the order by the single-judge bench. The petition was dismissed as “frivolous”.

Following this, the administration filed an appeal against the order, stating that additional work was carried out by the contractor without authorised sanction.

The contractor had claimed that Rs 20.97 lakhs was left to be paid to him by the time the appeal was filed. He passed away in July, while the appeal was pending.

“The court deprecates the conduct of the Union territory in filing the present appeal, the only motive being to harass the respondent for which certain precipitate orders are required to be passed so that the Union territory in all future cases shall appreciate that there are severe consequences to be suffered for misuse of the judicial process,” said the bench on September 4.

It imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the administration for every year of delay in paying the contractor. The bench said this cost will be recovered from the salary of the officer who initiated the present appeal “knowing fully well that there is no reasonable cause at all”.