Again as stated in the case of Collector, Anantnag (AIR 1987 SC 1353) the power to condone delay has been conferred in order to enable the Court to do substantial justice to parties by disposing of matters on merits and, as held in the case of G. Rame-gowda -- "In litigations to which Government is a party, there is yet another aspect which, perhaps, cannot be ignored. If appeals brought by the Government are lost by such defaults, no person is individually affected; but what, in the ultimate analysis, suffers is public interest. ..... .a somewhat different complexion is imparted to the matter where Government makes out a case where public interest was shown to have suffered owing to the acts of fraud or bad faith on the part of its officers or agents and where the officers were clearly at cross-purposes with it. Therefore in assessing what, in a particular case, constitutes 'sufficient cause', it might, perhaps, be somewhat unrealistic to exclude from the considerations that go into the judicial verdict these factors which are peculiar to and characteristic of the functioning of the Government." That answers the second issue referred to us for our consideration and it has to be held that, while considering an application for consideration of delay by a public body; the merits of the main matter should also be considered as a predominant factor.
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For the reasons stated above, I beg to differ with my brothers, M. B. Shah, J. and Y. B. Bhatt, J. and answer the two issues framed in paragraph 4 of this judgment as follows:--
(a) Small delays in the filing of appeals and applications by public bodies should be generally condoned.
(b) While considering an application for condonation of delay filed by a public body, the merits of the main matter should also be considered as a predominant factor.
Gujarat High Court
Municipal Corporation Of ... vs Voltas Limited And Etc. Etc. on 6 May, 1994
Equivalent citations: AIR 1995 Guj 29, (1994) 2 GLR 1325
Bench: M Shah, Y Bhatt, H Gokhale
