Supreme Court: Can't take state litigation casually

New Delhi, December 20

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Noting that a state litigation can’t be taken “so casually”, the Supreme Court has pulled up the Uttar Pradesh Government for an inordinate delay of over three years in filing a petition against an Allahabad High Court verdict with incorrect particulars.

“In the totality of circumstances of this case, we have declined such a prayer for filing a better affidavit. The state litigation, in our view, cannot be taken so casually that the application seeking to explain an inordinate delay of 1,173 days is filed bereft of all necessary particulars and is containing incorrect particulars,” a Bench led by Justice Dinesh Maheshwari said, rejecting the prayer for condonation of delay.

“We are left with no doubt that such matters are filed in a cursory manner to somehow seek a certification of dismissal by the Supreme Court. We thoroughly disapprove of such a practice and feel necessary to impose costs on the petitioners,” the Bench said earlier this month, imposing Rs 1 lakh as costs to be deposited by the UP Government in the Supreme Court Employees Welfare Association fund in four weeks.

However, the SC left it open for the state to recover the amount from the officers responsible for filing the petition with an “inexplicable delay” without sufficient cause and without any justification.