A Division Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy has observed that State cannot blame the virus for delaying the submission of an affidavit in Court. The Court has already granted an extension to the State but State did not comply with that.
Background of the Case
The above observation was made by the Court in the proceeding of a Petition in which the Court asked the State to file an affidavit within 10 days i.e. 28/04/2021. The State delayed in submitting the affidavit and justified the delay by citing the spread of COVID- 19 virus.
Court Reasoning and Judgment
The Court was dealing with a matter related to illegal quarrying, in which the State Government justified the failure to comply with the directions of the Court by citing the spread of Coronavirus. To this, the Court had said,
"Even otherwise, in crucial matters pertaining to illegal quarrying when reports or affidavits are not worthcoming, there is every reason to draw an adverse inference that the officials are mixed up with those involved in the illegal quarrying activities and actively resist the Court investigating into such matters."
The Court exasperated and laid emphasis on the order passed three weeks back:
“The State seeks a further week's time to comply with the relevant order. As a last chance, the State is afforded ten days's time to complete the work and file a status report when the matter appears next a fortnight hence. List on 28.04.2021.”
The Court further expressed that:
“Even as the common man remains apprehensive and fears for his life while praying that he does not get affected by the virus since the medical facilities remain suspect, the State's indolence knows no bounds to use the pandemic as an excuse for acting in flagrant breach of orders of this Court”.
The Court held that Virus cannot be blamed for delaying the submission of the affidavit and remarked that:
“It is the virus which is blamed for the status report not being filed despite previous orders”
Case Details
Case: W.P.No.31008 of 2019
Quorum: Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy
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