Government bodies must provide reasonable explanations for delays in filing appeals, as the law of limitation applies equally to all litigants, including the State.

JUDGMENT :

Abdul Moin, J.

(Order on I.A. Nos.1/2024 and 3/2025)

1. Heard learned Standing counsel for the appellant.

2. These are the applications for condonation of delay in filing the appeal and the supplementary affidavit in support of the said application.

3. Delay is of 700 days.

4. Notice has been issued to the respondents by this Court on 15.01.2025.

5. As per the office report dated 07.03.2025, notice has been served on respondents No.1 & 3 personally and on respondents No.2 & 4 through mother and thus, as per the office report dated 07.03.2025, service of notice upon the respondents is sufficient. However, nobody responds on behalf of the respondents, as such, the Court proceeds to hear and decide the applications for condonation of delay.

6. Learned Standing counsel has placed reliance on the applications for condonation of delay as well as the supplementary affidavit justifying the delay in filing the appeal in order to explain the delay of 700 days which has occurred in filing of the appeal. He contends that the judgment was pronounced by the learned Tribunal on 30.09.2022. The learned Advocate conducting the said matter informed about the said judgment through his letter dated 03.12.2022. In turn, the Additional District Magistrate (Administration) Rampur has informed through his letter dated 16.12.2022 about the letter of the learned Advocate and about the said judgment having been passed by the Tribunal. Thereafter, a letter was sent to the Home (Police) Section- 02, Uttar Pradesh Government, Lucknow regarding filing of the appeal. Almost ten months later, the government has granted permission for filing of an appeal through its letter dated 06.10.2023. Thereafter, the pairokar had contacted the office of the learned Chief Standing counsel and the appeal was prepared in December 2023. Sanguine in the belief that the appeal has been filed, the pairokar went away and only came back in November 2024 to inquire about the status of the appeal from which it transpired that an application for condonation of delay is to be filed and thereafter, the application of condonation along with the appeal itself has been filed before this Court on 02.12.2024.

7. From a perusal of the averments made in the application for condonation of delay duly supported by an affidavit and the supplementary affidavit, it emerges that it took the government almost ten months to take a decision for filing of the appeal and despite the appeal having been allegedly drafted in December 2023, it took the pairokar almost 11 months in order to find out as to whether the appeal has in fact been filed or not. This itself indicates the cavalier and casual attitude on the part of the officials in filing the appeal before this Court which has resulted in a delay of 700 days.

8. The delay which often occurs on the part of the department in filing the appeals/revisions has been considered threadbare by the Apex Court in the case of Chief Post Master General & Ors. vs. Living Media India Ltd. & Anr. reported in (2012) 3 SCC 563 wherein the Apex Court after placing reliance on various earlier judgments of the Apex Court, including a few over which the learned Standing counsel has also placed reliance, held as under:-

"27.It is not in dispute that the person(s) concerned were well aware or conversant with the issues involved including the prescribed period of limitation for taking up the matter by way of filing a special leave petition in this Court. They cannot claim that they have a separate period of limitation when the Department was possessed with competent persons familiar with court proceedings. In the absence of plau