The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court dealt with a Miscellaneous Petition seeking condonation of a 313-day delay in filing a Writ Appeal. The court observed defects in the supporting affidavit and issued directions for the petitioner to file a better affidavit and appear personally via video conference.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT Civil Appellate Jurisdiction Friday, the Eleventh day of September Two Thousand and Twenty PRESENT
The Hon`ble Mr.Justice M.SATHYANARAYANAN
AND
The Hon`ble Mr.Justice P.RAJAMANICKAM
CMP(MD). No.4020 of 2020 in
WA(MD) SR 11461 of 2020
. Vs.
Prayer in CMP(MD) No.4020 of 2020 :
This Miscellaneous Petition filed under Section 5 of Limitation Act, to condone the delay of 313 days in filing the writ appeal SR 11461 of 2020 against the order dated 15.03.2019 passed in WP(MD)No.42 of 2018.
Prayer in WA (MD) SR.11461 of 2020 :
This Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent, pleased to set aside the order dated 15.03.2019 passed in W.P.(MD) No.42 of 2018.
ORDER:- This Miscellaneous Petition coming up for orders on this day and upon perusing the petition and the affidavit filed in support thereof and upon hearing the arguments of Mrs.S.Srimathy, Special Government Pleader, for Petitioners and of Thiru.V.Paneerselvam, Advocate for the respondents, this Court made the following order:
O R D E R
(Order of this Court was made by M.SATHYANARAYANAN, J)
This petition has been filed to condone the delay of 313 days in filing the Writ Appeal.
2.It is relevant to extract paragraph No.11 of the affidavit
filed in support of the petition:
"I respectfully submit that the order was passed on 15.03.2019 in W.P.(MD) No.42 of 2018, the copy was made ready on 00.00.2019 and the copy was issued on 00.00.2019 . The copy was received on 00.00.2019 . Thereafter on instructions an opinion was sought from the Special Government Pleader whether this is a fit case for filing appeal. It is submitted that the Special
Government Pleader has opined that the case is fit for appeal and was pleased to direct the officials to file an appeal. After obtaining the legal opinion of the Special Government Pleader, sincere efforts were taken to file the appeal petition as early as possible. Hence there was delay and the delay is neither willful nor wanton, but for the aforesaid reasons. Therefore in the interest of justice the delay ought to be condoned."
3.It appears that the District Educational Officer, Valliyoor, who sworn the affidavit has failed to apply his mind to the contents of the affidavit filed in support of the petition.
4.Call on 22.09.2020 for filing better affidavit and on that day, the District Educational Officer, Valliyoor, shall appear in person, through video conference.
sj
Note : In view of the present lock down owing to COVID-19 pandemic, a web copy of the order may be utilized for official purposes, but, ensuring that the copy of the order that is presented is the correct copy, shall be the responsibility of the advocate/litigant concerned.
To
Copy to:
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the delay of 313 days in filing a Writ Appeal under Clause 15 of Letters Patent should be condoned.
The District Elementary Educational Officer, Tirunelveli District
The Additional Assistant Elementary Educational Officer, Nanguneri
G. Sumathi Thangapackiam
The Correspondent, T.D.T.A Primary School, Perumbath
M.SATHYANARAYANAN
P.RAJAMANICKAM
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
