TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1988 (3) TMI 408
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....the Land Acquisition Act steeply enhancing the compensation for the lands of the appellants acquired for the purpose of the University of Agricultural Sciences' at Bangalore. The circumstances leading upto and necessitating the prayer for the condonation of the delays before the High Court seem somewhat unfortunate, casting, as they do, as persions on the probity and rectitude of the conduct and good faith of the Government Counsel entrusted with the conduct of land acquisition cases. 2. The common award, in the three land acquisition references was passed by the learned Civil Judge on 17.7.1970. Application for certified copies was made on 31.8.1971; copies obtained on 5.1.1972 and M.F.A. No. 289 of 1973 was lodged before the High Court on 19.1.1972 and the other two appeals viz., M.F.A. 290 of 1973 and 293 of 1973 on 10.4.1972. There were, thus, substantial delays in preferring the appeals. The Land Acquisition officer, appellant before the High Court, filed applications to have these delays excused. The Division-Bench of the High Court was persuaded to make an order condoning the delay. The grievance of the State in the appeals was that the lands which had been purchase....
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....disclosed that the Government was put in a predicament by its own law- officers and that where, as here, public interest had come to suffer owing to the bad-faith and divided loyalties on the part of the officers and advisers of Government, the technicalities of procedure should yield to considerations which would promote public interest and substantial justice. Shri Veerappa submitted that in the present case the Government-Pleaders whom Government had necessarily to and did trust had let down that trust and this was a case of 'salt having lost its savour'. Shri Veerappa submitted that, during the pendency of the present appeals, the High Court had heard and disposed of the appeals before it on the merits substantially reducing the compensation; that appellants have already preferred SLP Nos. 2319, 2320, 2493 of 1974 against that Judgment and that the present appeals, preferred as they are against the mere condonation of delay, do not survive at all and must he held to have become infructuous. 5. We might, perhaps, deal with the latter submission of Shri Veerappa first. The fact that the main appeals are themselves, in the meanwhile, disposed of finally on the merits by the ....
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....n fact, for some time, there was utter confusion and it became practically impossible to find out as to which are the Land Acquisition cases which has been disposed of and in which appeals were not filed though appeals ought to have been filed .. It is humbly submitted that the case of the Government for condonation of delay was that on account of the fraud played by the concerned Government Pleaders delay in filing the appeals has occurred and more than a crore of rupees would be a loss to the Government on account of the said fraud played by the Government Pleaders. In fact, in innumerable cases the Hon'ble High Court has condoned the delay in filing of the appeals, taking into consideration the most unusual conduct of Government Pleaders which had landed the Government in difficulties. I beg to further submit that almost all the appeals which had been entertained by the Hon'ble High Court after condoning the delay, have been allowed on consideration of their merits ........ " (emphasis supplied) 7. The contours of the area of discretion of the Courts in the matter of condonation of delays in filing appeals are set out in a number of pronouncements of this Court. See: Ramla....
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....gents and where the officers were clearly at cross-purposes with it. Therefore, in assessing what, in a particular case, constitutes 'sufficient cause' for purposes of Section 5 it might, perhaps, be some what unrealistic to exclude from the considerations that go into the judicial verdict, these factors which are peculiar to and characteristic of the functioning of the Government. Governmental decisions are proverbially slow encumbered, as they are, by a considerable degree of procedural red-tape in the process of their making. A certain amount of latitude is, therefore, not impermissible. It is rightly said that those who bear responsibility of Government must have 'a little play at the joints'. Due recognition of these limitations on Governmental functioning-of course, within a reasonable limits-is necessary if the judicial approach is not rendered unrealistic. It would, perhaps, be unfair and unrealistic to put Government and private parties on the same footing in all respects in such matters. Implicit in the very nature of Governmental functioning is procedural delay incidental to the decision making process. In the opinion of the High Court, the conduct of the law-officers....