Vague affidavit and lack of explanation for delayed certified copy application insufficient for condoning 1209-day delay in second appeal.

ORDER

This petition has been filed seeking to condone the delay of 1209 days in filing second appeal.

2. In the affidavit filed in support of the condone delay petition, it was stated by the petitioner that appellant through his counsel had filed second appeal initially within a stipulated period of 90 days. However, the documents filed have been lost and the documents have become untraceable.

3. In the affidavit, the petitioner has not stated when the original second appeal was filed, where the documents were lost, whether the documents were returned, whether the return was taken etc., were not clearly mentioned. The allegation in the affidavit are very vague. The petitioner not even mentioned SR number of the original filing. Hence, the averment as if second appeal was filed earlier is not acceptable.

4. It is seen from the typed set of papers that judgment and decree of the first appellate court was passed on 20.03.2017. The second appeal was presented only on 12.02.2020. From the certified copy of the appellate court judgment filed in the second appeal, it is clear that the appellant filed copy application only on 01.10.2020 and the copies were made ready on 07.10.2020. Therefore, it appears that appellant filed second appeal on 12.02.2020 without the certified copies of judgement and decree passed in A.S.No.7 of 2014. Subsequently, he applied for certified copies and filed it before this Court. The petitioner has not given any convincing reason for his failure to apply for certified copies from 2017 to 2020. In such circumstances, the petitioner has not made out any sufficient cause for condoning the inordinate delay of 1209 days in filing second appeal. Accordingly, the civil miscellaneous petition stands dismissed. As a necessary consequence, the second appeal is rejected in SR stage itself. No costs.