IMPORTANT POINT
Burden is on the applicant to show that there was sufficient cause for the condonation of delay in filing the revision petition.

ORDER

C. Viswanath, Presiding Member.—The present Revision Petition has been filed by the Petitioner against the order dated 30.05.2019 of Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bangalore (for short “the State Commission”) in First Appeal No.613/2017, whereby the Appeal filed by the Petitioner was dismissed for default.

2. Alongwith the Revision Petition, IA/7372/2020, an application for condonation of delay of 180 days has also been filed by the Petitioner. However, according to the Registry the delay is of 240 days.

3. I have heard the Learned Counsel for the Petitioner on IA/7372/2020, application for condonation of delay and also carefully perused the record. Grounds for condonation of delay are mentioned in para 3 of the Application, are as follows: -

“3. That the impugned order was passed ex-parte by the Hon’ble State Commission on 30.05.2019. Petitioner’s GPA holder was unwell and could not attend the hearing on this date; further, Petitioner’s counsel who was undergoing a serious heart problem was also unable to attend the hearing. Despite this having been the first and only instance during the course of proceedings in Appeal No.613/2017 that the Petitioner was not represented, the Hon’ble State Commission, in an entirely hurried fashion, proceeded to hear the Respondent’s arguments and passed its final order dated 30.05.2019 ex-parte without offering the Petitioner an opportunity of hearing. Since the order was passed ex-parte, the Petitioner had no knowledge of the impugned order and was shocked to receive the free copy of the impugned order from his advocate on or about 20.06.2019.”

4. Learned Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that due to financial constraint as well as search of suitable counsel, Petitioner could not file the Revision Petition in time. It was submitted that the Petitioner is based at Karnataka and was not aware of any counsel at New Delhi. It was further submitted that copies of some documents were missing and the Petitioner had to apply for fresh certified copies from the District Forum as well as the State Commission and the said documents were received by the Petitioner in the end of November, 2019. Thereafter, Petitioner’s counsel prepared the draft Revision Petition and the draft could be finalized in March, 2020. It was also submitted that due to Covid-19 pandemic, lockdown was imposed across the country, due to which Petitioner was unable to send the documents to New Delhi. It was submitted that on 24.03.2020, there was complete lockdown in the country, due to which also delay occurred. It was also submitted that the limitation for filing cases as per circular of National Commission dated 24.03.2020 with effect from 15.03.2020 is still in force and there is no order of the National Commission that the period of limitation has expired.

5. In para 3 of the Application for condonation of delay Petitioner himself has submitted that the GPA holder was unwell and could not attend the hearing on that date, meaning thereby that the Petitioner was aware about the date of hearing. If the GPA holder was unwell and could not attend the hearing on 30.05.2019, he could have made efforts to know the orders issued in his case on 30.05.2019. Petitioner has not specifically mentioned the disease which the GPA holder was suffering from. He has simply stated that the GPA holder was unwell. Moreover, Petitioner by his own admission stated that he received the free copy of the impugned order on 20.06.2019. The Petitioner has not given any satisfactory explanation for the period of nine months from 20.06.2019 to 24.03.2020. Petitioner tried to explain the delay in a routine manner such as financial constraint, drafting of Petition, taking of legal opinion etc. Excluding the period from the date when the lockdown was imposed i.e. 24.03.2020 till the date of filing of Revision Petition, then also the Petitioner could not satisfactorily explain the delay from 20.06.2019 to 24.03.2020, more than