STATE OF JHARKHAND Vs. KRISHNA PRADHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Issue notice.

(2.) In this case, second appeal before the High Court was filed after 501 days. In this Court also the petition has been filed after delay of more than one year.

(3.) It appears that cases are coming up before this Court, and probably before the High Courts also, where appeals or writ petitions are filed after inordinate delay and an explanation is sought to be given in the application for condonation of delay in such cases filed by the government or the State Authorities that the file was moved from one desk to another or the approval was sought from the higher authority which took considerable time. We feel that the beneficiary of the judgment may be hand in glove with the officials in the Government Department who deal with the files, and files are suppressed for a long period, and then the appeal before the High Court or Supreme Court is filed after a long delay to get the appeal dismissed on the ground of delay. Huge amounts of public money or public property may be involved and the Government will be the loser on the technical point of limitation in such cases. This racket has been going on for a long time not only before the Supreme Court but also before the High Courts. Now the time has come that this racket should come to an end and the officials responsible for this be given severe punishment.