TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2013 (11) TMI 1559
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....r of the appellant on repayment of the loan. The appellant accordingly executed sale deed No. 575 of 2001 at sub Registrar's office at Ooruttambalam with respect to 3 cents of land in Re-survey No.111/13-1 in Block no.12 of Maranalloor village in favour of respondent no.1. The respondent no. 1 executed an agreement of re- conveyance deed in favour of the appellant regarding the above mentioned property on the same day. 4. The learned senior counsel, Mr. Basanth R. appearing on behalf of the appellant argued that the appellant approached the respondent no.1 several times with money for re-conveying the property in favour of the appellant as was agreed upon between them but the respondent no. 1 evaded from doing so. 5. It is also the case of the appellant that respondent no.1, instead of issuing a deed of re-conveyance, sold the property to Respondent nos. 2 and 3 without the knowledge of the appellant. The appellant sent a legal notice to the respondent no.1 requesting him to appear before the sub Registrar's office for the execution of re-conveyance deed regarding the plaint schedule property to which the respondent no. 1 did not oblige. The appellant then filed a suit being OS N....
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....iew of judgment etc. This Section also empowers the Court to retrospectively validate insufficiency of stamp duties etc. It is also a usual practice that the Court provides an opportunity to the party to pay court fee within a stipulated time on failure of which the Court dismisses the appeal. In the present case, the appellant filed an application for extension of time for remitting the balance court fee which was rejected by the learned sub Judge. It is the claim of the appellant that he was unable to pay the requisite amount of court fee due to financial difficulties. It is the usual practice of the court to use this discretion in favour of the litigating parties unless there are manifest grounds of mala fide. The Court, while extending the time for or exempting from the payment of court fee, must ensure bona fide of such discretionary power. Concealment of material fact while filing application for extension of date for payment of court fee can be a ground for dismissal. However, in the present case, no opportunity was given by the learned sub Judge for payment of court fee by the appellant which he was unable to pay due to financial constraints. Hence, the decision of the lear....
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....s judgments reported in New India Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Shanti Misra [1976] 2 SCR 266, Brij Inder Singh v. Kanshi Ram (1918)ILR 45 P.C. 94, Shakuntala Devi Jain v. Kuntal Kumari [1969]1 SCR 1006, Concord of India Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nirmala Devi [1979] 118 ITR 507(SC), Lala Mata Din v. A. Narayanan [1970] 2 SCR 90, State of Kerala v. E.K. Kuriyipe 1981 (Supp)SCC 72, Milavi Devi v. Dina Nath (1982)3 SCC 366a, O.P. Kathpalia v. Lakhmir Singh AIR 1984 SC 1744, Collector, Land Acquisition v. Katiji (1987) ILLJ 500 SC, Prabha v. Ram Parkash Kalra 1987 Supp(1)SCC 399, G. Ramegowda, Major v. Sp. Land Acquisition Officer [1988] 3 SCR 198, Scheduled Caste Co-op. Land Owning Society Ltd. v. Union of India AIR 1991 SC 730, Binod Bihari Singh v. Union of India AIR 1993 SC 1245, Shakambari & Co. v. Union of India AIR 1992 SC 2090, Ram Kishan v. U.P. SRTC 1994 Supp(2)SCC 507 and Warlu v. Gangotribai AIR 1994 SC 466, this Court in State of Haryana v. Chandra Mani 2002(143) ELT 249(SC) held ; '......The expression 'sufficient cause' should, therefore, be considered with pragmatism in justice-oriented process approach rather than the technical detention of sufficient case for explaining....
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....r of discretion of the Court. Section 5 of the Limitation Act does not say that such discretion can be exercised only if the delay is within a certain limit. Length of delay is no matter, acceptability of the explanation is the only criterion. Sometimes delay of the shortest range may be uncontainable due to a want of acceptable explanation whereas in certain other cases, delay of a very long range can be condoned as the explanation thereof is satisfactory. Once the Court accepts the explanation as sufficient, it is the result of positive exercise of discretion and normally the superior Court should not disturb such finding, much less in revisional jurisdiction, unless the exercise of discretion was on wholly untenable grounds or arbitrary or perverse. But it is a different matter when the first Court refuses to condone the delay. In such cases, the superior Court would be free to consider the cause shown for the delay afresh and it is open to such superior Court to come to its own finding even untrammelled by the conclusion of the lower Court." 10. In the case in hand, it is clear from the evidence on record that the appellant could not pay court fee due to financial difficulty b....
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...., it should be the main concern of the State, to have a proper legal system. Article 39A mandates that the State shall provide free legal aid by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. The principles contained in Article 39A are fundamental and cast a duty on the State to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on the basis of equal opportunities and further mandates to provide free legal aid in any way-by legislation or otherwise, so that justice is not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. The crucial words are (the obligation of the State) to provide free legal aid 'by suitable legislation or by schemes' of 'in any other way', so that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.(Emphasis supplied)......." 13. Further, Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides for holistic approach in imparting justice to the litigating parties. It not only includes providing free legal aid via appointment of counsel for ....
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....impugned judgment dated 21.03.2012 held that the appellant has not provided sufficient grounds for delay in filing the appeal. This decision of the High Court is unsustainable in law. The appellant has categorically stated that he went to his advocate's office at Neyyattinkara on 24.05.2011 to enquire about the status of the suit. His advocate informed him that the learned sub Judge has rejected the suit on 11.8.2008 for non-payment of balance court fee. The advocate claimed that he has informed the same to the appellant through a postal card but the appellant claims that the same has not reached him and he was under the impression that his application for extension of time for payment of court fee will be allowed by the learned sub Judge. He further claimed that he had applied for procurement of the certified copy of the decision of the learned sub Judge on the same day. 16. The learned senior counsel Mr. K.P. Kylasantha Pillay, appearing on behalf of the respondents alleged that the appeal of the appellant before this court is based on wrong and frivolous grounds. The material produced by them in support of their contention is totally based on the merit of the case. Since, we ar....