1985 (3) TMI 309

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....ppalling delays of law. Ironically, the silver lining is furnished by the bravery of a broken man who has been fighting against injustice for the last 23 years. When justice is done, or so the judges believe, the conscience is assuaged. But in this case, despite our doing all that can be done for the appellant within the framework of law, we have an uneasy conscience. Delay not only defeats justice and robs it of its immediate relevance to the parties but it shakes the very confidence of the people in the desire and ability of law courts to assist them when they need that assistance most. 2. The appellant was retrenched by the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Government of India in 1960, whereupon he was employed as a Cash Clerk by the Delhi ....

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....ection 12 of the Probation of Offenders Act, he could not be dismissed from service without affording him a reasonable opportunity of being heard, as required by Article 311(2) of the Constitution. The Government of India filed a Letters Patent appeal against that judgment, which was allowed by Jagjit Singh and R.N. Aggarwal, JJ. on October 10, 1972. This appeal of the year 1973 has come up for hearing in this Court more than 11 years after it was filed. 4. Section 12 of the Probation of Offenders Act must be placed out of way first. It provides that not withstanding anything contained in any other law, a person found guilty of an offence and dealt with under the provisions of Section 3 or 4 "shall not suffer disqualification" attaching ....

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....o convict him for that offence. But, it is to be admired that as long back as in 1963, when Section 235 of the CrPC was not on the Statute book and later refinements in the norms of sentencing were not even in embryo, the learned Magistrate gave close and anxious attention to the sentence which, in the circumstances of the case, could be passed on the appellant. He says in his judgment The appellant was a victim of adverse circumstances; his son died in February 1962, which was followed by another misfortune; his wife fell down from an upper storey and was seriously injured: it was then the turn of his daughter who fell seriously ill and that illness lasted for eight months. The learned Magistrate concluded his judgment thus : Misfortune....