Full Judgment Text
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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 5606 OF 2008
(Arising out of SLP (C) No. 16684 of 2008)
Union of India through General Manager,
Western Railway, Mumbai & Anr. ….Appellants
Versus
Fataji Chaturji & Ors. …Respondents
O R D E R
1. Leave granted.
2.
This is an appeal filed at the instance of
Union of India against the Judgment and
th
final order dated 29 of December, 2005
passed by the High Court of Gujarat in Civil
Application Nos. 12992 to 13002 of 2005
with Letters Patent Appeal Nos. 1446 to
1456 of 2005, by which the High Court had
refused to condone the delay of 148 days in
filing the Letters Patent Appeals.
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3. We have heard Mr. B. Dutta, learned
Additional Solicitor General, appearing for
the appellants and Mr. Vimal Chandra S.
Dave, learned counsel appearing for the
respondents and considering the facts and
circumstances of the case and the
explanations offered by the appellants in
their application for condonation of delay,
we are of the view that the delay in filing the
LPAs must be condoned and LPAs be
restored to its original file. Accordingly, we
order the same.
4. The High Court is therefore requested to
dispose of the LPAs on merits and in
accordance with law within a period of eight
weeks from the date of supply of a copy of
this order to it. It is also made clear that at
the time of hearing of the LPAs, it would be
open to the parties to question the
maintainability of the appeal before the
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Division Bench, which shall also be taken
into consideration at the time of such
disposal.
5. Accordingly, the impugned orders of the
High Court are set aside. The appeal is
thus allowed to the extent indicated above.
There will be no order as to costs.
……………………….J.
[Tarun Chatterjee]
New Delhi; … ……………
………J.
September 11, 2008. [Aftab Alam]