Government authorities cannot approach the Court without sufficient cause for delay, and condensation of delay is not admissible on the pretext of government working lethargy.

ORDER

1. The Petitioner-State of Bihar filed an appeal against the order of the learned Single Judge before the Division Bench after a delay of 367 days. The Division Bench dismissed the application for condensation of delay on the ground that there was no sufficient cause shown for condensation of delay. It is thereafter with a delay of 728 days that the special leave petition has been filed. The reason given for seeking condensation of this extraordinary 728 days delay is as under:

2. that the Petitioner State is filing the present special leave petition after obtaining all the sanctions from the respective departments and took time to receive the affidavit and vakalatnama from the concerned department, hence there is delay in filing the present matter.

2. We are of the view that a clear signal has to sent to the Government Authorities that they cannot approach the Court as and when they please, on account of gross incompetence of their officers and that too without taking any action against the concerned officers. No detail of this delay of 728 days have been given as if there is an inherent right to seek condensation of delay by State Government. The law of limitation apparently does not apply to the State Government according to its conduct.

3. That such condensation of delay is no more admissible on the pretext of Government working lethargy is clear from the judgment of this Court in The Chief Post Master General vs. Living Media India Ltd., 2012 (3) SCC 563.

4. We strongly deprecate the casual manner in which the Division Bench was approached and also this Court has been approached; the objective possibly being to get a certificate of dismissal from this Court. This is complete wastage of judicial time and the Petitioners must pay for the same.

5. We, thus, dismiss the special leave-petition on delay and impost cost on the Petitioners of Rs. 20,000/- to be recovered from the officers responsible for this delay and be deposited with the Supreme Court Mediation Centre, within four weeks. Certificate of recovery be filed in this Court.

6. We also direct the Chief Secretary of the State of Bihar to look into this matter to ensure better management of the legal cases.

7. Consequently, the special leave petition is dismissed in the aforesaid terms.

8. List before the Registrar, on reopening, 'to verify the certificate of recovery.