AI Structured Summary
Not yet generated for this judgment
Judgment
Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer
The appellant has challenged the order dated 31st December, 2019 passed by the Whole Time Member (‘WTM’ for short) whereby he has
been restrained to provide secretarial services for a period of one year and listed companies were directed not to engage the appellant for a period of
one year.
There is a delay of 300 days in the filing of the appeal and, accordingly, an application has been filed for condonation of delay. The ground urged, as
submitted by Mr. Joby Mathew is, that the appellant was confined to bed rest for three months and thereafter the covid pandemic kicked up and
therefore the appeal could not be filed within time. On this basis, the learned counsel urged that the delay may be condoned.
We find from a perusal of the application for condonation of delay that the medical certificate given only indicates a slight back pain for which a
prescription was given for three days and there is nothing to indicate that he was confined to bed rest for three months. We are of the opinion that the
appeal could have been filed before the lockdown started on 25th March, 2020. There is an inordinate delay in filing the appeal for which no valid or
sufficient cause has been stated. We are further of the opinion that the penalty imposed has already been undergone by the appellant and, therefore,
no relief can be granted to the appellant. We are of the opinion that an appeal cannot be entertained only to decide academic questions especially
when there is an inordinate delay in the filing of the appeal.
In view of the aforesaid, the application for condonation of delay is dismissed as a result of which the appeal is also dismissed with no order as to
costs.
The present matter was heard through video conference due to Covid-19 pandemic. At this stage it is not possible to sign a copy of this order nor a
certified copy of this order could be issued by the registry. In these circumstances, this order will be digitally signed by the Private Secretary on behalf
of the bench and all concerned parties are directed to act on the digitally signed copy of this order. Parties will act on production of a digitally signed
copy sent by fax and/or email.