Allowed¶15

State of Hp and Anr. v. Sumit Sharma

Himachal Pradesh HC15 Jul 2026CMP.M/1769/2025

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Condonation of delay; Letters Patent Appeal; LPA e-filing number lost/not traceable; State of Himachal Pradesh; Sumit Sharma; CMP.M No. 1769 of 2025; costs Rs. 10,000/- demand draft; conditional registration of appeal; deemed dismissal on non-deposit; four weeks compliance; lack of diligence; Himachal Pradesh Recruitment and Condition of Service of Government Employees Act, 2024 struck down by Coordinate Bench; Taj Mohammad CWP 2004 of 2017; COPC 732/2024 in CWP 663/2024.

What did the court decide?

Delay of 1 year and 12 days in filing the LPA condoned, subject to deposit of costs of Rs. 10,000/- by demand draft in favour of the respondent within four weeks; the LPA to be registered and listed only on receipt of the deposit, failing which the application stands deemed dismissed. Application disposed of accordingly. ¶15

State of Hp and Anr. Vs Sumit Sharma — Himachal Pradesh HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

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Issue for consideration

Whether the delay of 1 year and 12 days in filing the Letters Patent Appeal by the State should be condoned.

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Ratio / Principle

The appellants were not diligent in pursuing the remedy and proper procedure had not been followed.

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Key takeaways

Taking a lenient view, the Court condoned the delay in filing the appeal, subject to deposit of costs of Rs. 10,000/- by way of a demand draft in favour of the respondent.ratio¶15
The LPA shall be registered and listed only upon proof of deposit of the costs; failing such deposit, the present application shall stand deemed dismissed.ratio¶16
The applicants/appellants were directed to complete the needful (deposit of costs) within a period of four weeks.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Condonation of delay — Letters Patent Appeal by the State of Himachal Pradesh barred by 1 year and 12 days — delay attributed to administrative processing (representation and judgment dated 05.09.2024 sent to Government on 14.10.2024; approval to assail the impugned judgment granted November 2024) and to the originally e-filed LPA (e-filing No. GHP12300100003C202400293, filed 11.12.2024) becoming untraceable, as discovered on enquiry dated 28.08.2025 — Court held the appellants were not diligent in pursuing the remedy and proper procedure had not been followed — however, taking a lenient view, delay condoned subject to deposit of costs of Rs. 10,000/- by demand draft in favour of the respondent within four weeks — LPA to be registered and listed only on proof of such deposit, failing which the application to be deemed dismissed. Application disposed of accordingly (G.S. Sandhawalia, CJ and Bipin C. Negi, JJ.).

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Item No. D-11

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State of Himachal Pradesh and another Vs. Sumit Sharma.

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CMP.M No. 1769 of 2025.

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15.07.2026 Present:

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Mr. Gobind Korla, Additional Advocate General, for the applicants/appellants.

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Mr. Sanjeev Bhushan, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Sparsh Bhushan, Advocate, for the respondent.

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CMP.M No. 1769 of 2025

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The present application has been filed for condonation of delay in filing the Letters Patent Appeal by the State, which is stated to be barred by 1 year and 12 days.

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The reasons for delay given in the application are that the representation of the petitioner alongwith judgment dated 05.09.2024 was sent to the Government for necessary direction on 14.10.2024. Vide letter dated 14.11.2024, the Government had directed to examine the case of the petitioner as well as other similar cases, which were based on the judgment passed in Civil Writ Petition No. 2004 of 2017, titled Sh. Taj Mohammad and others Vs. The State of Himachal Pradesh and others, dated 03.08.2023. In consonance with the letter dated 12.11.2024, the Government had granted the approval to assail the impugned judgment by filing the appeals.

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The LPA having e-filing No.

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GHP12300100003C202400293 was filed by the State, on 11.12.2024. Thereafter, letter was addressed to the Government in connection with listing of CMP No. 5399/2025 in COPC No. 732/2024 in CWP No. 663/2024 titled Sumit Sharma Vs. Kadam

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Sandeep Basant and others, on 15.05.2025. On making enquiry on 28.08.2025 with the Registry of this Court and Advocate General’s Office, it was found that the LPA having the aforesaid e- filing number was not traceable and the matter was placed before the Advocate General in written vide letter dated 28.08.2025.

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Thereafter, the Advocate General forwarded the matter to the Registrar General of this Court seeking permission to consider the photocopy/e-scanned copy of already filed LPA or to permit for refiling the LPA considering the photocopy/e-scanned copy of the judgment in issue and certified copy of the impugned judgment was received on 10.09.2025. It was in such circumstances, delay had been caused in filing the appeal.

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In reply, the application has been opposed as such, on the ground that the appellants had never pursued the matter diligently, because they were harping upon the Himachal Pradesh Recruitment and Condition of Service of Government Employees Act, 2024, which has now been struck down by the Coordinate Bench. The appellants had then filed the present LPA only on 06.10.2025, which was got registered on 10.10.2025 and the said date is available with the Registry of this Court.

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Keeping in view the above, we are of the considered opinion that the appellants were not diligent in pursuing the remedy and proper procedure had not been followed. However, taking a lenient view, we condone the delay in the filing the appeal, subject to deposition of costs of Rs.10,000/- by way of a demand draft in favour of the respondent.

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The LPA shall only be registered and listed once the receipt of the deposition of the costs is shown, failing which, the present application shall be deemed to have been dismissed. Let the needful be done by the applicants/appellants, within a period of four weeks.

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Application stands disposed of accordingly.

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(G.S. Sandhawalia) Chief Justice

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(Bipin C. Negi)

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Judge

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July 15, 2026 (Shivank Thakur)

Procedural history

How this case reached the court

AI extract

Order under challenge
Judgment dated 05.09.2024 which the State, with governmental approval, moved to assail by filing the present LPA; certified copy of the impugned judgment was received on 10.09.2025.¶9
05.09.2024
Prior proceeding
Judgment dated 05.09.2024 (subsequently assailed by the State through the LPA); a copy accompanied the petitioner's representation forwarded to the Government on 14.10.2024.¶9
Prior proceeding
Vide letter dated 14.11.2024 the Government directed examination of the petitioner's case and other similar cases resting on the Taj Mohammad judgment dated 03.08.2023; in consonance with letter dated 12.11.2024 approval was granted to assail the impugned judgment by filing the appeals.¶9
Prior proceeding
The LPA bearing e-filing No. GHP12300100003C202400293 was filed by the State on 11.12.2024.¶11
Prior proceeding
On 15.05.2025 a letter was addressed to the Government in connection with listing of CMP No. 5399/2025 in COPC No. 732/2024 in CWP No. 663/2024, titled Sumit Sharma Vs. Kadam Sandeep Basant and others.¶11
Prior proceeding
On enquiry made on 28.08.2025 with the Registry of the Court and the Advocate General's Office, the e-filed LPA was found not traceable; the matter was reported in writing to the Advocate General vide letter dated 28.08.2025.¶12
Prior proceeding
The Advocate General forwarded the matter to the Registrar General seeking permission to consider the photocopy/e-scanned copy of the already filed LPA or to permit refiling of the LPA.¶13
Prior proceeding
Certified copy of the impugned judgment was received on 10.09.2025; it was in such circumstances that delay was caused in filing the appeal.¶13
Prior proceeding
In reply, the application was opposed on the ground that the appellants were not diligent, having earlier rested on the Himachal Pradesh Recruitment and Condition of Service of Government Employees Act, 2024 (since struck down by a Coordinate Bench), and that the present LPA was filed only on 06.10.2025 and got registered on 10.10.2025.¶14

State of Hp and Anr. v. Sumit Sharma

Case brief

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State of Hp and Anr. v. Sumit Sharma

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