CUTTACK: Inordinate delay in filing of appeals by the State government against adverse orders of the High Court and tribunals has come into focus for the second time in four months.
Such lapses assume significance as they have resulted in major embarrassments for the government due to the dismissal of its appeal petitions.
On January 11 this year, the Supreme Court had dismissed a special leave petition filed by the government and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 for filing it belatedly without offering any credible explanation.
Deprecating the government for the same lapses, the Orissa High Court on Wednesday dismissed its petition against an Odisha Administrative Tribunal (OAT) order as it was filed after three years.
However, the HC did not impose any fine on the government. The OAT had issued the order on February 1, 2018, but the government filed the petition challenging it on March 9, 2021. The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice KR Mohapatra said, “An inordinate delay of three years in filing the writ petition without offering a credible explanation for the delay would attract the doctrine of laches. Consequently, the petition is dismissed on the ground of delay and laches.”
“The present is one such case where the explanation offered for the inordinate delay of three years in filing the writ petition is totally unsatisfactory and unconvincing. Although there is no statutory period of limitation as such for filing a writ petition, the doctrine of laches is attracted”, the bench observed.
The government had in the petition stated the Law department after considering the gravity of the matter intimated the Advocate General through a letter on August 24, 2020 to take necessary steps to file a writ petition assailing the OAT order.