Himachal Pradesh High Court
____________________________________________________ vs State Of H.P. And Others on 14 November, 2024
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA.
Civil Revision No. 131 of 2024
Decided on: 14.11.2024
____________________________________________________
Devender Kumar ........... petitioner
Versus
State of H.P. and others respondents
____________________________________________________
Coram:
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Bipin Chander Negi, Judge
Whether approved for reporting? 1
For the petitioner : Mr. G.R. Palsra, Advocate.
For the respondents :
Mr. Manish Thakur, Deputy
Advocate General, for
respondents No. 1 to 3/State.
____________________________________________________
Bipin Chander Negi, Judge (oral)
The present petition has been filed laying a challenge
to an order dated 05.09.2024, whereby the application for
condonation of delay filed by the present respondent has been
condoned. The respondent in the case at hand is the State of
Himachal Pradesh. The delay in the case at hand was only 40
days in filing the appeal.
While dealing with an application filed for
condonation of delay, the impersonal nature of the governmental
functioning, slow pace in reaching of a government decision
cannot be lost sight of. Other than the aforesaid, injustice to
institutional interest of the State cannot be lost sight.
Whether the reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
In this respect, it would be appropriate to refer to
decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court passed in State of Manipur
and others vs. Koting Lamkang, 2019 (10) SCC 408. The
relevant extract of the same is being reproduced herein below:
"7. But while concluding as above, it was necessary for
the Court to also be conscious of the bureaucratic delay
and the slow pace in reaching a government decision and
the routine way of deciding whether the State should
prefer an appeal against a judgment adverse to it. Even
while observing that the law of limitation would harshly
affect the party, the Court felt that the delay in the appeal
filed by the State, should not be condoned. 8. Regard
should be had in similar such circumstances to the
impersonal nature of the Government's functioning where
individual officers may fail to act responsibly. This in turn,
would result in injustice to the institutional interest of the
State. If the appeal filed by State are lost for individual
default, those who are at fault, will not usually be
individually affected."
Other than the aforesaid, it would also be appropriate
to refer to judgment dated 09.10.2023, passed in Civil Appeal
No.5867 of 2015 titled Sheo Raj Singh (deceased) through
LRs. and others vs. Union of India and another. The relevant
extract of the same is being reproduced herein below:-
"37. Having bestowed serious consideration to the rival
contentions, we feel that the High Court's decision to condone
the delay on account of the first respondent's inability to
present the appeal within time, for the reasons assigned
therein, does not suffer from any error warranting interference.
As the aforementioned judgments have shown, such an
exercise of discretion does, at times, call for a liberal and
justice-oriented approach by the Courts, where certain leeway
could be provided to the State. The hidden forces that are at
work in preventing an appeal by the State being presented
within the prescribed period of limitation so as not to allow a
higher court to pronounce upon the legality and validity of an
order of a lower court and thereby secure unholy gains, can
hardly be ignored. Impediments in the working of the grand
scheme of governmental functions have to be removed by
taking a pragmatic view on balancing of the competing
interests."
Viewed in the aforesaid, context, I see no infirmity in
the impugned order dated 05.09.2024 calling for any interference
by this Court in the present petition. Hence, the present petition is
dismissed. Pending applications, if any, shall also stand disposed
of.
(Bipin Chander Negi)
Judge
November 14, 2024
tarun
