STATE OF UTTARAKHAND Vs. BRIJ LAL KANNOJIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By filing this application, the appellants seek condonation of delay of 331 days in filing the present Special Appeal. The reasons, for seeking condonation of said delay, have been set out by the appellants in paras 3 and 4 of the affidavit filed in support of the application. The appellants have deposed that, in terms of the impugned order, an Office Order was passed on 17/11/2018, which was, however, cancelled on 9/4/2019, as there was difficulty in complying with the impugned order dtd. 19/4/2018 of this Court.

(2.) Learned counsel for the appellants has explained that the difficulty stems from the fact that the learned Single Judge erroneously proceeded on the basis that the juniors of the writ petitioner stood promoted, and that their promotions were regularized, which is factually not correct. In this regard, the learned counsel has drawn our attention to the stand taken by the appellants in its counter-affidavit filed in response to the Writ Petition.

(3.) The application is opposed by the learned counsel for the respondent-writ petitioner, who states that the appellants, admittedly, had received a copy of the order dtd. 19/4/2018 on 3/5/2018, but the appellants chose to sit over the matter for almost a year. Only after the respondent-writ petitioner had filed a Contempt Petition, being Contempt Petition No. 76 of 2019, the appellants have preferred the present Special Appeal.