Jharkhand High Court
Nand Kumar Mahto vs The State Of Jharkhand on 8 August, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
(Letters Patent Appellate Jurisdiction)
LPA No. 906 of 2019
With
LPA No. 915 of 2019
Nand Kumar Mahto, son of late Ramewshwar Mahto, resident of village-
Sahad, PO Gurua, PS Lesliganj, District- Palamau
... ... Appellant
[In both cases]
Versus
1. The State of Jharkhand
2. The Member, Board of Revenue, Jharkhand PO & PS Dhurwa, District
Ranchi
3. The Additional Collector, Palamau at Medininagar, PO & PS Medininagar,
District- Palamau
4. The Deputy Collector Land Reforms, Palamau PO & PS Medininagar,
District- Palamau
... Respondents/ Respondents
[In both cases]
Indu Devi, wife of Shashi Shekhar Mahto resident of village- Oriya Kalan
PO-Gurua PS- Lesliganj, District- Palamau
... Petitioner/ Respondents
[In LPA No. 906 of 2019]
Shashi Shekhar Mahto, son of Ram Bilash Mahto, resident of village-Oriya
Kalan PO-Gurua PS- Lesliganj, District- Palamau
[In LPA No. 915 of 2019]
-------
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHREE CHANDRASHEKHAR
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RATNAKER BHENGRA
------
For the Appellant(s) : Mr. Vijay Shankar Prasad, Advocate
[In both cases]
For the State : Mr. Aditya Raman, AC to GA-III
[In both cases]
For the Pvt. Respondent(s) : Mr. Mihir Kunal Ekka, Advocate
[In both cases]
------
ORDER
th
8 August 2022
Per, Shree Chandrashekhar,J.
Mr. Vijay Shankar Prasad, the learned counsel appears for the
appellant in both these cases.
2. Nand Kumar Mahto is the appellant in both the Letters Patent
Appeals. He is aggrieved of the common order dated 26 th September 2019
passed in WP (C) No. 2837 of 2018 with WP (C) No. 3700 of 2018 which
were filed by the subsequent purchasers, namely, Shashi Shekhar Mahto and
2 LPA 906 of 2019
And LPA 915 of 2019
Indu Devi challenging the order passed in favour of Nand Kumar Mahto who
filed petition under section 16(3) of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of
Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961.
3. The proceedings in these Letters Patent Appeals reveal that after
the Letters Patent Appeals were filed on 20 th December 2019 with 12 defects
no further step was taken by the appellant in the matter.
4. These Letters Patent Appeals appeared on Board on 23 rd March
2022 and 24th March 2022 when on account of inability of one of the Hon'ble
Judges constituting Division Bench the matters were directed to be listed
before another Bench.
5. By virtue of an order dated 5th May 2022 passed by Hon'ble the
Chief Justice, High Court of Jharkhand on administrative side, these matters
are assigned to DB-III.
6. It appears that after 23rd March 2022 also the appellant did not
take any step in the matters and these matters appeared on Board in their
chronology.
7. On 28th June 2022 the following order was passed by this Court:
"Order No. 06 /Dated: 28th June 2022
These Letters Patent Appeals were filed on 20th December
2019 with as many as 13 defects.
On 14th February 2020 these matters were listed before
Joint Registrar (Judicial) and on 24th February 2022 before the
learned Registrar General. On both the occasions no one
appeared for the appellant(s). It appears that even in absence of
the learned counsel for the appellant(s) sufficient time was
granted for removing the defects, however, the defect nos.1 to 4 in
L.P.A No.906 of 2019 and defect nos.1, 2, 4 and 6 in L.P.A No.915
of 2019 have still not been removed.
The present Letters Patent Appeals were filed after lapse
of the period of limitation.
There are applications for stay vide I.A No.11966 of 2019
in L.P.A No.906 of 2019 and I.A No.11987 of 2019 in L.P.A
No.915 of 2019.
Still, no step has been taken by the appellant(s) for
removing the defects and prosecuting these matters.We do not find
any explanation for not prosecuting these appeals in about three
years' time.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tiwari, the learned counsel for the
respondent no.5 who is in Caveat submits that the present Letters
Patent Appeals are liable to be dismissed for the aforesaid
reasons.
Notwithstanding the above, we grant three weeks' time to
the appellant(s) for removing the defects as pointed out by the
Registry vide S.R dated 18th December 2019 and 21st December
2019 subject to payment of cost of Rs.5000/- to be deposited to
Advocates' Clerks Association, Jharkhand High Court within a
period of one week.
The Registry shall give access to the learned counsel for
3 LPA 906 of 2019
And LPA 915 of 2019
the appellant(s) for removing the defects only upon tendering the
proof of deposit of the cost.
Post these matters after three weeks."
8. Mr. Vijay Shankar Prasad, the learned counsel for the appellant
seeks adjournment on the ground that some of the defects have yet not been
removed. On deposit of cost of Rs. 5,000/- also the learned counsel for the
appellant is unable to tender any proof.
9. The appellant is pre-emptor who has a very weak right in law.
We have also gone through the order passed by the writ Court which was
passed after taking note of several judgments by the Hon'ble Supreme Court.
A litigant who does not approach the Court with promptitude does not
deserve any indulgence of the Court. Mere filing a petition in the Court is not
sufficient where the applicant fails to prosecute the matter for about three
years. There is no explanation by the learned counsel for the appellant for
such inordinate delay in prosecuting the matters. And, there are unexplained
latches on the part of the appellant to take prompt steps in the matter.
10. Having regard to the aforesaid facts and circumstances in the
case, LPA No. 906 of 2019 and LPA No. 915 of 2019 are dismissed.
11. IA No. 11966 of 2019 and IA No. 11967 of 2019 in LPA No. 906
of 2019; IA No. 11986 of 2019 and IA No. 11987 of 2019 in LPA No. 915 of
2019 stand disposed of.
(Shree Chandrashekhar, J.)
(Ratnaker Bhengra, J.)
Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi
Dated: 8thAugust, 2022
SB/Nibha-NAFR
