Dismissal of review on the ground of limitation, cannot be held to be taking away the substantive right to challenge the Original Order by filing statutory appeal – MSTC Ltd. Vs. Standard Chartered Bank – Bombay High Court
February 3, 2023
Even though limitation may harshly affect rights of a party, it has to be applied with all its rigours when prescribed by statute. There is no straight jacket formula for condonation of delay. The principles for condonation of delay are to be applied by exercising the discretionary jurisdiction of a court, upon examining the facts and circumstances of each case. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of N. Balakrishnan v. M. Krishnamurthy and Esha Bhattacharjee v. Managing Committee of Raghunathpur Nafar Academy, has held that the expression “sufficient cause” should be construed liberally and that in the absence of anything showing malafides or deliberate delay as a dilatory tactic, normally delay has to be condoned. There should be a liberal, pragmatic, justice-oriented, non-pedantic approach while dealing with an application for condonation of delay and that the State or a public body or an entity representing a collective cause should be given some acceptable latitude.
