Curable procedural defect in appeal papers cannot justify dismissal without an opportunity to rectify and proceed according to law.

A procedural dismissal for non-affixation of court-fee stamps is unsustainable where the record does not show that the appellants were given an opportunity to cure the defect in the appeal memoranda and accompanying copies of the impugned orders. The defect was a curable procedural irregularity, and it should have been allowed to be rectified in the interests of justice. The dismissal was therefore set aside, and the matter was remitted with a direction to permit correction of the defect and then decide the appeals according to law.

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Issues: Whether the dismissal of the appeals for non-affixation of court-fee stamps without giving an opportunity to cure the defect was sustainable.

Analysis: The record did not show that the appellants had been afforded any opportunity to rectify the defect in the appeal memoranda and copies of the impugned orders. A procedural defect of this nature ought to have been allowed to be cured in the interests of justice.

Conclusion: The dismissal of the appeals was unsustainable and was set aside, with a direction to grant an opportunity to rectify the defect and then decide the appeals according to law.

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