A Single Judge Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising of Justice V. M. Velumani observed, in response to a delay condonation application, that the delay can be condoned by seeing the witness of the parties and on being satisfied that the applicant had valid reasons for the delay and his/ her intentions were not malafide.
“It is well settled that the application for condoning the delay must be considered liberally and length of the delay is not a criteria. The Court must see whether the parties have given acceptable and valid reason and the intention of the parties is bonafide and not malafide.”
Factual Background
The above observation was made by the High Court while dealing with C.M.P.No.5666 of 2021- filed under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, to condone the delay of 919 days in filing the above appeal.
Court Reasoning & Judgment
The Court perused the material facts which were brought before it to establish the reasons for the delay. The Petitioner stated that the delay was neither wilful nor wanton. The Court was of the view that:
“The parties should not be shut down at the threshold itself and they must be allowed to put forth their case on merits.”
The Court further expressed that the reasons stated for the delay of 919 were not enough to condone the delay. Hence, the Bench dismissed the petition and was not inclined to condone the delay.
Case Details
Case: C.M.P.No.5666 of 2021
Petitioner: The Managing Director, Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Salem) Limited, Regional Office, Bharathipuram
Respondent: S.Sasikumar.
Counsels for the Petitioner: Mr.D.Venkatachalam
Quorum: Justice V. M. Velumani
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