Orissa High Court
State Of Odisha And Another vs Sudha Ranjan Panda And Others on 1 December, 2023
Bench: B.R. Sarangi, Murahari Sri Raman
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.A. No. 2844 of 2023
State of Odisha and Another ... Appellants
Mr. Biplab Mohanty, Addl. Govt. Advocate
-versus-
Sudha Ranjan Panda and Others ... Respondents
CORAM:
ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE DR. B.R. SARANGI
MR. JUSTICE MURAHARI SRI RAMAN
ORDER
Order No. 01.12.2023
I.A. No.8302 of 2023 and W.A. No.2844 of 2023
01. 1. The above Interlocutory Application has been filed for
condonation of delay of 425 days in filing the writ appeal.
2. Heard Mr. Biplab Mohanty, learned Addl. Govt. Advocate
appearing for the State-Appellants.
3. As it appears, the order impugned has been passed on
23.08.2022 and the writ appeal has been filed on 20.11.2023 and in
the meantime more than 425 days have passed. Therefore, the
appeal suffers from delay and laches. Further, it appears that
sufficient cause has not been shown to condone the delay of 425
days in preferring the writ appeal. That apart, no due diligence has
been indicated in the petition in preferring the writ appeal.
4. It is further contended that similar matter has also come up
before this Court in OJC No.2147 of 1991, which was decided on
24.03.1992 and this Court has considered the case of Job Contract
employees for regularization of service and for pension and
pensionary benefits. In O.A. No.3020(C) of 2003 (Nityananda
Biswal v. State of Orissa and Others), the Tribunal vide order
dated 04.01.2004 also directed that the period of the engagement of
the petitioner in job contract establishment should be taken into
account as qualifying service and accordingly his pension and
other pensionary benefits be revised and paid to the petitioner
therein, the order passed in O.A. No.3020(C) of 2003 was also
challenged by the State before this Court in W.P.(C) No.14244 of
2006. This Court vide order dated 09.04.2014 dismissed the writ
application preferred by the State against the order passed by the
Tribunal. The State also preferred Special Leave to Appeal (C) CC
No.12573 of 2015 against the order passed by this Court in
W.P.(C) No.14244 of 2006, which was dismissed by the apex
Court vide order dated 13.07.2015.
5. In the above view of the matter, this Court is not inclined to
entertain the writ appeal at this belated stage, as the same suffers
from delay and laches, in view of the judgment/order of this Court
in the case of State of Odisha v. Surama Manjari Das (W.P.(C)
No. 15763 of 2021 dismissed on 16.07.2021), which has been
confirmed by the apex Court, vide order dated 05.04.2023 in
S.L.P.(C) Diary No. 9259 of 2023.
6. Accordingly, the interlocutory application merits no
consideration and the same is hereby dismissed. Consequentially,
the writ appeal is also dismissed.
(DR. B.R. SARANGI)
ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE
(M.S. RAMAN)
JUDGE
SK Jena/Secy.
Location: High Court of Orissa, Cuttack.
