JUDGMENT

Sanjay Kumar; CJ.:--

[1] The applicants, nine in number, seek condonation of the delay of 528 days in filing an appeal against the judgment and order dated 20.09.2018 passed by a learned Judge of this Court in W.P(C) No.519 of 2018.

[2] Notice having been ordered; affidavits-in-opposition were filed by Mr. A.Romenkumar, learned counsel for respondents 1 to 5, viz., the petitioners in W.P(C) No.519 of 2018, and Mr. N.Zequeson, learned counsel, appearing for the officials of the Manipur Technical University, respondents 7 and 8.

Copious arguments having been advanced by Mr. B.P.Sahu, learned senior counsel for the applicants; Mr. A.Romenkumar, learned counsel for respondents 1 to 5; and Mr. N.Zequeson, learned counsel for respondents 7 and 8; supported by some written arguments and an abundance of case law, this application is amenable to disposal by way of this rather lengthy order.

[3] At the outset, we may note that the applicants were not parties to the writ petition filed by respondents 1 to 5 herein. Their challenge was to the Notification dated 23.05.2018 issued by the Manipur Technical University (hereinafter, ‘the University’), proposing to fill up various teaching and nonteaching posts in its service. They also prayed for a direction to the University to provide them regular appointment from the date of their initial appointment on contract basis as Assistant Professors, along with consequential benefits.

By the judgment and order dated 20.09.2018, the learned Judge set aside the impugned Notification dated 23.05.2018 in respect of the writ petitioners and directed the University to provide them regular appointment from the date of their initial appointment. Pursuant to the very same Notification dated 23.05.2018, the applicants were appointed in the service of the University on 17.12.2018. They were appointed as Assistant Professors in the Departments of Mathematics, (applicants 1 and 5), Physics (applicant 2), Electronics & Communication Engineering (applicants 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9) and Chemistry (applicant 8). At that time, respondents 1 to 5 herein, the writ petitioners, were working in the University on contract basis as Assistant Professors in Professional Communication (English) (respondent 1), Computer Science & Engineering (respondent 2), Electrical Engineering (respondent 3), Civil Engineering (respondent 4) and Mechanical Engineering (respondent 5).

While so, the Board of Management of the University, at its meeting held on 29.06.2020, took note of the Cabinet decision dated 11.02.2020 with regard to regularization of the services of Assistant Professors appointed on contract/guest basis from the date of their joining and passed a Resolution advising the University to constitute a Verification Committee for that purpose. Significantly, this Resolution made no mention of the judgment and order dated 20.09.2018 passed in W.P(C) No.519 of 2018. The applicants challenged the aforestated Resolution dated 29.06.2020 in W.P(C) No.344 of 2020 before this Court. It is their claim that it was only during the hearing of this case that they came to know of the said judgment and order dated 20.09.2018. More specifically, they assert that it was on 09.07.2020 that the learned State counsel informed the Court that the process of regularization was initiated in compliance with the direction of this Court in W.P(C) No.519 of 2018. Thereafter, W.P(C) No.344 of 2020 was dismissed by the learned Judge on 30.12.2020. One of the observations made by the learned Judge in the dismissal order was that the petitioners therein, the present applicants, could not question the actions taken by the authorities in compliance with the judgment and order dated 20.09.2018 passed in W.P.(C) No.519 of 2018 without challenging the same. The learned Judge therefore held that W.P(C) No.344 of 2020 was not even maintainable. Perhaps taking a cue from these observations, the applicants filed an appeal against the said judgment and order dated 20.09.20