DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY VIKAS SADAN Vs. UDAY KULKARNI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal seeks to challenge the order dated 23.05.2008 of the Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Delhi (hereafter, the State Commission) in complaint case no.27 of 2000. By this order, the State Commission allowed the complaint with the following observations and directions: 11. However, keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, we deem that the complainant is entitled for refund of Rs.4,05,082/- and a compensation of Rs.1.00 lac (one lac) for having been made to pay extra amount by way of interest, instead of having cancelled the allotment by the O. P. on which he would have been refunded the amount of Rs.4.00 (sic) or so and would have earned interest thereon.12. Complaint is disposed of in aforesaid terms with the directions to the O. P.-DDA to make the payment of Rs.4, 05,082/- and Rs.1.00 lac as compensation which shall include the cost of litigation within one month.

(2.) We have heard Mrs. Girija Wadhwa, learned counsel for the appellant Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Ms. Ananya Bhattacharya, learned counsel for the respondent/complainant and carefully considered their submissions as well as the documents and material brought on record.

(3.) (I)this appeal has been filed after an undue delay of 113 days. The application for condonation of this delay gives the following explanation: that the certified coy of the order was obtained by the counsel for the appellant on 18.07.2008 from the Ld. State Commission as appellant did not receive it. The copy of the order was sent to department on 18.07.2008. The Law officer housing after receiving the same asked the dealing hand to examine the order in case the same need to be challenged. The dealing hand after opining sent the file to the department who endorsed the opinion of the dealing hand. The file was sent to the Dy. Director Housing. The facts were examined at various level (sic ). The decision to file an appeal was taken on 6.11.2008. The case was entrusted to the panel lawyer on 11.11.2008 who prepared the appeal and sent the file to the department on 12.11.2008 for getting the appeal signed and for getting the statutory deposit prepared in favour of the commission. The demand draft was prepared on 4.12.2008. The appeal was signed on 5.12.2008. It is submitted that on account of impersonally machinery also no one in charge of the matter is directly hit or hurt by the judgment sought to be subjected to appeal. Moreover the inherited bureaucratic methodology imbued with note making file pushing ethos are responsible for the delay. (ii)These reasons, we are constrained to observe, are more or less the same as are being put forth by the DDA in practically every first appeal and revision petition that it files before this Commission. All that such an explanation reveals is stark indifference of the officers/officials concerned. For, example, in this case, it took the DDA nearly 4 months just to decide if an appeal should be filed. After the appeal memorandum was drafted by Mrs. Wadhwa, it took the DDA another 3 weeks to get the appeal memorandum signed and prepare the demand draft for the statutory deposit with this appeal! (iii)We have repeatedly advised the panel lawyers of DDA and, at least on one occasion, a senior officer of the DDA (who was asked to remain present in this very context) that undue delays in filing appeals and revision petitions and offering such stereotype explanations of the delays appear to have become a matter of habit. We have also observed on several occasions that if such is the degree of attention bestowed by the DDA to statutory appeals and revisions against orders of the Consumer Fora which allegedly affect the DDAs own interest, it would not be difficult to anticipate the extent of delays that the ordinary consumers availing of the services of the DDA had to and continue to suffer. We have further voiced our view that if such delays are not effectively controlled by the DDA administration, we would be constrained to dismiss DDAs appeals and revision petitions on the ground of uncondonable delays alone. In this case, however, we condone the delay, as a last opportunity to the DDA, subject to payment of cost of Rs.10, 000/- out of which Rs.5, 000/- shall be deposited with the Consumer Legal Aid Account of this Commission and the remaining Rs.5, 000/- shall be paid to the respondent/complainant directly by a demand draft, within four weeks of this order.