RELIANCE GENERAL INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. PARAS RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order will dispose of the application under Section 5 of Limitation Act filed for condonation of delay in filing the appeal.

(2.) THE background under which this application was filed and the various reasons for condonation of delay in filing the present application are briefly summarized hereinafter.

(3.) IN the present case consumer complaint No. 18/2010 was decided by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Mandi camp at Sundernagar on 26.2.2011. As per averments made in the application it is stated that the certified copy in the present case was prepared on 1.3.2011 which was received by the local counsel on the same date and appeal was to be filed before 31.3.2011. Counsel for the applicant has sent the certified copy of the said Order to the Applicant to Chandigarh at their Sector 34A office. However, the office of the Applicant has shifted from Sector 34A to the new office in Sector 9C during that time, and the orders of this case which was received by the dispatch section got inside another unrelated legal file by mistake and the same went unnoticed by the legal section of the Applicant company as it was not received by the legal section of the company. The further averments were to the effect that it was only when the pending two cases of MACT filed by Sh. Roshan Lal v. Paras Ram and Sh. Denish Supehya v. Paras Ram were being handled, then it came to light that the consumer matter may have been decided. On contacting the local counsel who had been handling the present consumer matter over telephone on 28.4.2011, it was informed by him that he had sent the certified copy of the Order earlier and the same may be checked up from the files with the Applicant office. Thereafter, all the hundreds of legal matter files were checked thoroughly by the Applicant and ultimately the certified copy of the Order was traced and found inside a completely unrelated file in office of Applicant. Urgently, legal opinion was sought, which was sent vide covering letter dated 5.2.2011 by counsel. The. matter was processed and sanction taken to file the Appeal. The Appeal was drafted and the same was filed on 18.5.2011.