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THE HIGH COURT OF SIKKIM: GANGTOK (Civil Revisional Jurisdiction)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SINGLE BENCH: THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE BHASKAR RAJ PRADHAN, JUDGE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I.A. No.01 of 2026 IN CRP No. 05 of 2026 The Branch Manager, National Insurance Company Limited, Gangtok Division, Registered Office at NH-10, Near Police-Headquarter, Gangtok, Gangtok District, Sikkim, 707101.

….. Applicant Versus Shri Yoel SUbba, Son of Shri Anil Subba, Resident of Upper Sadam, P.S. Melli, Namchi District, Sikkim, 737128.

….. Respondent Application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 of condonation of delay in filing the instant Revision.

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Appearance:

Mr. Madan Kumar Sundas, Ms. Anita Limboo and Ms. Priyanka Subba, Advocates for the Applicant.

Mr. Tarun Choudhary Advocate for the Respondent (through V.C.).

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Date of Hearing : 08.10.2026 Date of Order : 08.10.2026 Date on which uploaded : 08.10.2026

O R D E R (O R A L)

Bhaskar Raj Pradhan, J.

1. An application for condonation of delay of 223 days in preferring the present revision petition is placed for consideration before this court.

2. Heard Mr. Madan Kumar Sundas, learned counsel for the applicant as well as Mr. Tarun Choudhary, learned counsel for the respondent.

3. The application for condonation of delay was filed on 10.04.2026. A reply thereto was filed on 20.07.2026 by the respondent. On 27.08.2026 and 23.09.2026 the applicant filed further affidavits.

4. In the application for condonation of delay of 223 days the first part of the application the delay is attributed to the earlier counsel before the learned Trial Court. In the second part of the application the delay is explained in this fashion. It is stated that on 14.10.2025 the learned counsel presently arguing this case was approached by the applicant after the impugned order was passed on 30.08.2025 and as per the submissions of the learned counsel 176 days were taken to prefer the present revision petition. According to the application on being approached the learned counsel for the applicant received certified copies of the learned Trial Court record and impugned order only on the first week of December, 2025 from the applicant. He thereafter, went through the entire records and found that it was a tax matter which needed detailed examination and therefore, he could file the revision petition only on 10.04.2026.

5. Further, it is also submitted that the officers of the applicant were on deputation for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) duty by the Government of West Bengal and therefore they were unable to verify and approve the draft revision on time which took them 50 to

60 days to verify and sign it.

6. Insofar as the reasons for delay attributed in the first part of the application blaming the earlier counsel the affidavit filed on

23.09.2026 states this:

“2. That this Hon’ble Court, vide orders dated 13.08.2026 and 02.09.2026, was pleased to direct the Revisionist to explain the averment made in paragraph 2(c) of the application for condonation of delay regarding the alleged ill-health of the learned Trial Court Counsel, Shri. Sailesh Rai.

3. That the said averment regarding the ill- health of Shri Sailesh Rai was inadvertently and incorrectly incorporated due to a communication gap/miscommunication and was not based on any statement made by the learned counsel that he was ill.

4. That upon verification, Shri Sailesh Rai, by his email, clarified that he was not ill and that the reference to his ill-health in the application was not communicated by him.

5. That the Revisionist Company, upon realizing the mistake, has sincerely and unconditionally apologized to Shri Sailesh Rai, through email dated 03.09.2026 and he has acknowledged the sai