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2005 Supreme(SC) 1904
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
B.N. Agrawal, A.K. Mathur, JJ.
S.D. Bandi - Appellant
Versus
Divisional Traffic Officer, Ksrtc and Ors. - Respondents
C.A. No. 4064 of 2004
Decided On : 16-08-2005
For the Appearing parties :Mr. Naveen R. Nath, Mr. R.S. Hegde, Ms. Savitri Pandey, Mr. Chandra Prakash, Mr. P.P. Singh, Mr. T.S. Doabia, Sr. Adv., Mr. S.W.A. Qadri, Mr. V.K. Verma, Mr. Sarup Singh, Sr. Addl. Adv. Genl., Mr. Arun K. Sinha, Ms. Pinky Anand, Mr. D.N. Goburdhan, Mr. Rajesh Pathak, Mr. Arup Banerjee, Mr. Jana Kalyan Das, Mr. Avatar Singh Rawat, Addl. Adv. Genl., Mr. J.K. Bhatia, Ms. H. Wahi, Ms. Sadhana Sandhu, Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, Mr. T.C. Sharma, Ms. Neelam Sharma, Mr. Aruneshwar Gupta, Addl. Adv.Genl. (Not Present), Mr. Naveen Kumar Singh, Mr. Sanjay R. Hegde, Ms. A. Subhashini, Ms. Sunita Sharma, Mr. T.A. Khan, Mr. D.S. Mahra, Mr. V.G. Pragasam, Mr. K.R. Sasiprabhu, Ms. G. Indira, Mr. A. Mariarputham, Ms. Aruna Mathur, for M/s. Arputham, Aruna and Co., Mr. B.S. Banthia, Mr. Gopal Singh, Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, Mr. R. Ayyam Perumal, Mr. S. Vallinayagam, Mr. Anis Suhrawardy, Ms. D. Bharathi Reddy, Mr. KH. Nobin Singh, Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, Mr. B.B. Singh, Ms. Krishna Sarma, Mr. V.K. Sidharthan, for M/s. Corporate Law Group, Mr. R.G. Padia, Sr. Adv., Mr. Ram Kishore Singh Yadav, Mr. J.K. Bhatia, Mr. U. Hazarika, Mr. Satya Mitra, Mr. Anil Shrivastava, Mr. Saurabh Srivastava and Mr. Banoshri, Advocates
The court has the discretion to condone delay and grant last chances for filing necessary documents, while ensuring that all concerned parties are duly served notices and given an opportunity to appear.
Headnote:
Delay - Filing of Affidavits - Condoning delay and granting last chance to file affidavits
Fact of the Case:
The States of Assam and Tamil Nadu filed affidavits with delay, while the States of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Orissa, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan failed to file required affidavits. Notices were served to the Union of India and several other states, but they did not file their vakalatnama/appearance.
Finding of the Court:
The court condoned the delay in filing affidavits by the States of Assam and Tamil Nadu, and granted a last chance to the remaining states and the Union of India to file their necessary affidavits. The court also directed further notices to be served to the states that did not appear, and to the learned Attorney General for India.
Issues: Delay in filing affidavits, failure to appear despite notices
Ratio Decidendi: The court exercised its discretion to condone the delay and grant a last chance for filing affidavits, while also ensuring that all concerned parties are duly served notices and given an opportunity to appear and file necessary documents.
Final Decision: The court allowed the condonation of delay, granted a last chance to file affidavits, and directed further notices to be served to the non-appearing states and the Attorney General for India. The appeal was listed for a future date.
ORDER :
1. Delay in filing affidavits by the States of Assam and Tamil Nadu is condoned. Two weeks' time is allowed, by way of last chance, to learned counsel appearing on behalf of the States of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Orissa and Uttaranchal to file required affidavits. So far as the Sates of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are concerned, in spite of the fact that the counsel have entered appearance, but nobody has appeared when the case was called out. Two weeks' time is allowed to the said States to file required affidavits. Though notices upon the Union of India and States of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Mizoram and Chattisgarh have been served, but in spite of that nobody has bothered to file their vakalatnama/appearance. Let further notices be served upon the standing counsel on behalf of the aforesaid States. Let notice be also sent to the learned Attorney General for India. Four weeks' time is allowed to the Union of India as well as the aforesaid States to appear before this Court and file their necessary affidavits.
2. List this appeal on 19th September, 2005.
