Orissa High Court
State Of Odisha And Another vs Manaswini Mandhata And Others on 15 December, 2023
Bench: B.R. Sarangi, Murahari Sri Raman
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.A. No. 2902 of 2023
State of Odisha and another .... Appellants
Mr. Biplab Mohanty, Additional Government Advocate
-versus-
Manaswini Mandhata and others .... Respondents
Mr. P.K. Mohapatra, Advocate for Resp. No.1
CORAM:
ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE DR. B.R. SARANGI
MR. JUSTICE MURAHARI SRI RAMAN
ORDER
Order No. 15.12.2023
I.A. No.8451 of 2023 and W.A. No.2902 of 2023
01. 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid mode.
2. The above Interlocutory Application has been filed for
condonation of delay of 265 days in filing the writ appeal.
3. Heard Mr. Biplab Mohanty, learned Additional Government
Advocate appearing for the State-Appellants and Mr. P.K.
Mohapatra, learned counsel for the Respondent No.1.
4. As it appears, the order impugned has been passed on 06.02.2023
and the writ appeal has been filed on 28.11.2023 and in the
meantime more than eight months 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 265
days in preferring the writ appeal. That apart, no due diligence has
been indicated in the petition in preferring the writ appeal.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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
S. Behera/
M. Panda
Location: High Court of Orissa, Cuttack
Date: 15-Dec-2023 15:35:18
