Smt.Arti vs Union Of India
2023 Latest Caselaw 4123 MP

                                                           1
                             IN    THE      HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
                                                 AT JABALPUR
                                                     BEFORE
                                    HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE DWARKA DHISH BANSAL
                                               ON THE 15 th OF MARCH, 2023
                                               MISC. APPEAL No. 4840 of 2019

                            BETWEEN:-
                            1.    SMT. ARTI W/O LATE SHRI AJAY VISHWAKARMA,
                                  AGED ABOUT 26 YEARS, R/O BHATTA MOHALLA
                                  KHATAI GHAT, KATNI, P.S. KOTWALI, DIST.
                                  KATNI (M.P.) (MADHYA PRADESH)

                            2.    KUM. SONIA D/O LATE AJAY VISHWAKARMA,
                                  AGED ABOUT 5 YEARS, BHATT MOHALLA KHATAI
                                  GHAT KATNI P.S. KOTWALI (MADHYA PRADESH)

                            3.    MASTER SHIV VISHWAKARMA S/O LATE AJAY
                                  VISHWAKARMA, AGED ABOUT 3 YEARS, R/O
                                  BHATTA MOHALLA KHATAI GHAT, KATNI, P.S.
                                  KOTWALI, DIST. KATNI (M.P.) (MADHYA
                                  PRADESH)

                            4.    SMT. GIRIJA BAI W/O LATE BIHARILAL
                                  VISHWAKARMA, AGED ABOUT 60 YEARS, R/O
                                  BHATTA MOHALLA KHATAI GHAT, KATNI, P.S.
                                  KOTWALI, DIST. KATNI (M.P.) (MADHYA
                                  PRADESH)

                                                                                    .....APPELLANTS
                            (BY MS. APARNA SINGH, ADVOCATE)

                            AND
                            UNION OF INDIA THROUGH GENERAL MANAGER
                            WEST CENTRAL RAILWAY, JABALPUR (M.P.) (MADHYA
                            PRADESH)

                                                                                    .....RESPONDENT
                            (BY SHRI GOVIND PRASAD PATEL, ADVOCATE)

                                  This appeal coming on for admission this day, th e court passed the
                            following:
                                                            ORDER

Signature Not Verified Signed by: KUMARI PALLAVI SINHA Signing time: 3/16/2023 3:22:55 PM

Heard on I.A. No. 11078/2019, which is an application for condonation of delay of 738 days.

2. This miscellaneous appeal has been preferred by the appellants/claimaints challenging the judgement dtd. 11.05.2017, only in respect of the rate of interest of 9% per annum in place of 6% per annum, already awarded by Railway Claims Tribunal, Bhopal.

3. The condonation of delay of 738 days has been sought on the ground that after death of appellant 1's husband, the appellant 1 Smt. Arti Vishwakarma was married to one Mahesh Verma of Ratlam, therefore, she could not get knowledge about the decision in the instant case and only after

getting knowledge of the decision from local counsel Shri Ashok Shrivastava on 26.08.2019, the appellants preferred appeal. With the aforesaid submissions, learned counsel for the appellants submits that while considering the application for condonation of delay, liberal view should be taken and delay should be condoned.

4. Heard learned counsel for the appellants and perused the application and the record.

5. The judgement in question was passed on 11.05.2017 whereby an amount of rupees eight lakh has been awarded in favour of the appellants. Nothing has been mentioned in the application as to who has received the amount of award in pursuance of impugned judgement, which for the purpose of explanation for want of knowledge about the impugned judgement was necessary. It is apparent from the application that it is very sketchy and no reasonable explanation has been given for the delay of 738 days.

6. The Supreme Court in the case of Pundlik Jalam Patil vs.

Signature Not Verified Executive Engineer, Jalgaon Medium Project and another (2008) 17 Signed by: KUMARI PALLAVI SINHA Signing time: 3/16/2023 3:22:55 PM

SCC 448 has observed that the Court cannot enquire into belated and stale claims on the ground of equity. Delay defeats equity. The Courts help those who are vigilant and "do not slumber over their rights". The aforesaid judgment has further been followed recently in the case of Majji Sannemma @ Sanyasirao vs. Reddy Sridevi and Others AIR 2022 SC 332.

7. As such, the I.A. No. 11078/2019 deserves to be and is hereby dismissed. Resultantly, the miscellaneous appeal is also dismissed.

8. Interim application(s), if any, shall stand dismissed.

(DWARKA DHISH BANSAL) JUDGE Pallavi

Signature Not Verified Signed by: KUMARI PALLAVI SINHA Signing time: 3/16/2023 3:22:55 PM