The government was scolded by the Supreme Court today for taking too long to file a plea against a Punjab and Haryana High Court judgement.
The Supreme Court dismissed the plea as time-barred and levied a fee of 25,000 after noting that the Centre had filed a case against a July 2017 judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court with a delay of 1,356 days.
In a ruling issued earlier this week, a panel of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy stated, “The Union of India has filed the special leave plea with a delay of 1,356 days expecting the court to show indulgence for its gross inefficiency, which this court refuses to do.”
The bench stated that it has “repeatedly criticised” the government’s and public authorities’ attempts to approach the Supreme Court without regard for the statute of limitations.
“We have also highlighted that if the government believes it is so inefficient that it cannot file appeals in a timely manner, it is for them to approach the legislature to convey their inefficiency and request an extension of time to file the appeals,” the statement stated.
The Supreme Court has classified these cases as “certificate cases,” meaning they are only presented to the court to acquire a certificate of dismissal to free delinquent officers of their responsibility.
It stated, “We refuse to be a party to this.”
While dismissing the petition as time barred, the court ordered that the costs be paid to the Supreme Court group ‘c’ (non-clerical) employees’ welfare association within four weeks.
It stated that the sum be collected from the delinquent officer following an investigation and that a certificate of recovery be filed with it.
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by the Centre in response to a high court decision on July 31, 2017 dismissing a suit challenging an order issued by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh bench.
