1982 (10) TMI 218

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....inted copies thereof within two months of the service of the notice of arrival of records upon the learned advocate for the appellants. The Division Bench noted that an earlier default by the appellant was condoned by recalling the order dated June 11, 1979, dismissing the appeal, but in view of the subsequent lapse on the part of the appellant even after restoration of the appeal and service of notice of arrival of the Record the appellants failed to comply with the Court's order dated January, 1979, the appeal was dismissed. 3. This Court directed issue of notice by its order dated April 10, 1980, simultaneously directing the stay of dispossession as directed by the earlier order of this Court to continue to be operative provided t....

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..... This submission is not substantiated because we requested Mrs. Khanna to inform us whether at any point of time the order dismissing the appeal of the present appellants on account of the failure to supply the paper-books as directed by the High Court was withdrawn by the High Court. It is not pointed out to us that the order dismissing the appeal on account of the failure of the appellants to supply the paper-books has ever been recalled by the High Court. The confusion arises from the fact that the order granting leave to amend the plaint to the respondents against which the Civil Appeal No. 3451/79 was preferred to this Court by the appellants was withdrawn rendering the appeal against the order infructuous. There is, however, nothing ....

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....litate justice and further its ends; not a penal enactment for punishment and penalties, not a thing designed to trip people up. Too technical a construction of sections that leaves no room for reasonable elasticity of interpretation should therefore, be guarded against (provided always that justice is done on both sides) lest the very means designed for the furtherance of justice be used to frustrate it. Next, there must be ever present to the mind the fact that our laws of procedure are grounded on a principle of natural justice which requires that men should not be condemned unheard, that decisions should not be reached behind their backs, that proceedings that affect their lives and property should not continue in their absence and that....

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....lly disposed of. 7. It is not for a moment suggested that the Court cannot make an order directing the appellants to prepare the paper-books. A sanction could have been created by providing that if the paper-books are not supplied in time the interim stay of dispossession would be vacated. That would have imposed a serious obligation on the appellants to comply with the Court's order in time. If the respondents were very keen to get the appeal expeditiously disposed of, they could have been called upon to supply the paper-books and costs could have been imposed on the appellants. Instead of this permissible mode of achieving the end, the High Court has imposed a penalty which we find disproportionate to the gravity of the omission. A....