A tribunal should not dismiss an appeal hypertechnically for short delay without permitting a condonation application.

The petitioner, a registered cooperative society, claimed that respondent No. 1 had purchased tools worth ₹43,950 from it on 29 December 2010, paid ₹10,000, and failed to pay the balance of ₹33,950.

The petitioner initiated proceedings under Section 64 of the Cooperative Societies Act, but its claim was rejected by the Deputy Registrar and subsequently by the Joint Registrar by orders dated 18 August 2015 and 19 July 2022, respectively.

The petitioner then filed an appeal before the Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Societies Tribunal. The prescribed limitation for the appeal was 60 days, but the appeal was filed with a delay of 21 days.

The Tribunal dismissed the appeal on 30 June 2023 because no application supported by an affidavit for condonation of delay had been filed.

Whether the Cooperative Societies Tribunal was justified in dismissing the appeal for a delay of 21 days without granting the petitioner an opportunity to file an application for condonation of delay under Section 5 of the Limitation Act?

Whether the Tribunal’s order dated 30 June 2023 required interference in writ jurisdiction and the matter warranted remand for consideration of the delay-condonation application on merits?

The Court considered Section 64 of the applicable Cooperative Societies Act, under which the petitioner had initiated proceedings concerning its monetary claim.

It applied the limitation framework governing appeals before the Cooperative Societies Tribunal, under which the appeal was required to be filed within 60 days.

The Court further applied Section 5 of the Limitation Act, which permits condonation of delay upon the applicant showing sufficient cause.

The governing principle was that procedural requirements concerning limitation and condonation should not be applied in an unduly hyper-technical manner, particularly where the delay is short and the litigant can be afforded an opportunity to explain it.

The Court noted that the appeal was delayed by only 21 days and that the matter had been presented by the cooperative society, with one of its members appearing before the Tribunal.

Although the petitioner had not filed a formal application for condonation of delay along with an affidavit, the Tribunal ought to have adopted a liberal and facilitative approach by directing the petitioner or its appearing member to file the necessary application.

Since the delay was limited and the petitioner asserted that it could explain the delay, dismissal of the appeal without permitting the defect to be cured amounted to a hyper-technical approach.

The Tribunal therefore failed to properly balance procedural compliance with adjudication of the appeal on its merits.

It accordingly set aside the Tribunal’s order dated 30 June 2023 and remanded the matter to the Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Societies Tribunal.

The petitioner was directed to appear before the Tribunal with an application for condonation of delay supported by an affidavit, and the Tribunal was directed to decide that application in accordance with law, uninfluenced by its earlier order, preferably within 45 days from production of the High Court’s order.

The writ petition was disposed of accordingly.