Dharamveer Singh vs State of Uttarakhand & others

There is 590 days'' delay in filing the Appeal. Following are the reasons given for condonation of delay:

"3. That as the order impugned in the present appeal was not in the knowledge of the appellant as not being party to the writ petition and the appellant has filed the Special Appeal no. 567 of 2014 against the order dated 02-01-2014 passed in WPMS no.2574 of 2014 with delay and the delay in the same was condoned and as the said SPA no.567 of 2014 was dismissed vide order dated 25-8- 2015 on the ground that the order passed in other writ petitions by virtue of the same order was not challenged and thus the present appeal is being filed and thus delay was caused which is not deliberate one.

That thus on technical ground the Special Appeal was dismissed and thus the appellant herein is filling the review application in the SPA no. 567 of 2014 and thus the present appeal with delay is being filed and the said delay is not deliberate one as the order impugned was challenged and on technical ground the Special Appeal was dismissed and thus to remove the said technical hurdle the present appeal is being filed.

That thus delay occurred which may be condoned, thus the appellant is filing the present application for condoning the delay of 590 days for filing this Special Appeal and in the facts and circumstances the same delay may be condoned."

We have heard Mr. Mohd. Safdar, learned counsel for the appellant, Mr. Rajeev Singh Bisht, learned Brief Holder for the State of Uttarakhand and also Mr. M.S. Tyagi, learned counsel appearing for respondent no. 7.

By this Appeal, the appellant is seeking to challenge the judgment & order dated 02.01.2014 passed in Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1582 of 2012. This Court had already dismissed, as noted in paragraph no. 3, Special Appeal No. 567 of 2014, on 25.08.2015, noting that there is no appeal from a common judgment in regard to the judgment of the present writ petition. The only reason stated is that, thus, on a technical ground the Special Appeal was dismissed. The present Appeal is filed with delay and, thereafter, it is said that the delay is not deliberate.

Today, we have already dismissed the review petitions filed in Special Appeal No. 569 of 2014 & Special Appeal No. 567 of 2014 filed against the judgment & order dated 02.01.2014 passed in Writ Petition (M/S) No.2574 of 2012. We do not see any reason to condone the delay. It must be noted that there is no dispute that the appellant, in this case, was aware of the judgment passed in Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1582 of 2012 & Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1771 of 2012. This we are saying as the appellant has a case that he was not a party in the writ petition. If he was not party in Writ Petition (M/S) No. 2574 of 2012, he was also not party in Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1582 of 2012 & Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1771 of 2012 and, therefore, there was no basis for the appellant not to file the Appeal earlier. Therefore, we think that the appellant has not given sufficient reasons for condonation of delay. The Application for Condonation of Delay stands dismissed. The leave is refused. Consequently, the Application for Leave to Appeal and the Special Appeal will stand dismissed.