Punjab and Haryana High Court: Law can’t compel anyone to do impossible

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 6

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that the law does not compel a man to do that which he cannot possibly perform. A Division Bench also made it clear that an act or proceedings required to be executed or initiated on a certain day or within a specified time would be deemed to have carried out or set off, if done immediately on the day of reopening after being closed on that particular day. It was applicable in case of a court or an office.

The ruling by the Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli came in a case where a successful bidder could not submit the requisites within the stipulated time because of the weekend followed by a national holiday. The Bench was hearing a petition by A-Square Media against the state of Punjab and other respondents for quashing the highest bid by Vishal Steels. The successful bidder was required to submit the requisites within two working days on receipt of the letter of acceptance as per a clause of the tender documents. But it admittedly failed to comply with the tender conditions.

The respondent, on the other hand, submitted that it received the letter of acceptance on March 26, when nationwide shutdown was observed by the farmers. The next two days were Saturday and Sunday and March 29 was Holi, a gazetted holiday. Dismissing the petition, the Bench said it was not the petitioner’s case that the respondent could furnish the requisites before March 30. If that was the case, none — leave alone the respondent — could be expected to perform the impossible. “We are reminded, at this stage, of the maxim, ‘lex non cogit ad impossibillia’, the law does not compel a man to do that which he cannot possibly perform”.

Bidder unable to file papers in time

The ruling came in a case where a successful bidder could not submit the requisites within the stipulated time because of the weekend followed by a national holiday