SC fines UP, K'taka for delay in plea filing

Blurb

States asked to recover Rs25,000 each from officers responsible for it

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 23

Frowning upon inordinate delay in filing of appeals, the Supreme Court (SC) has slapped a cost of Rs 25,000 each on Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. It ordered that the money be recovered from erring officers for their “lethargy and incompetence”.

Non-adherence will result in appropriate proceedings against the UP Chief Secretary, a three-judge Bench headed by Justice SK Kaul said on Friday.

In case of UP, there was a delay of 502 days while Karnataka had filed the special leave petitions (SLPs) seeking condonation 1,288-day delay.

Rejecting their separate petitions, the Bench said the SLPs were “without any cogent or plausible ground for condonation of delay”.

“We have repeatedly discouraged state governments and public authorities in adopting an approach that they can walk in to the SC as and when they please ignoring the period of limitation prescribed by the statutes, as if the limitation statute does not apply to them,” said the Bench that included Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Hrishikesh Roy.