An appellate authority must decide a delay-condonation application before hearing the appeal on merits.

The Assistant Commissioner passed an order on 3 April 2012.

The petitioners appealed to the Deputy Commissioner and filed an application for condonation of delay.

On 18 August 2021, the Deputy Commissioner decided the appeal on its merits without first considering or making an order on the delay application.

The petitioners sought certiorari to quash that decision.

The State’s counsel confirmed that the delay application had been filed but not separately decided.

The Court applied the procedural principle that where an appeal is accompanied by an application seeking condonation of delay, the authority must consider and dispose of that application before proceeding to determine the appeal on its merits.

The judgment cited no specific statute or precedent in support of this principle; it exercised jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution

The Deputy Commissioner had neither considered nor passed an order on the petitioners’ delay application before deciding the appeal on its merits.

The State’s submission confirmed this procedural omission. The Court therefore held that the appeal’s merits could not properly be determined before the delay application was addressed

It directed the Deputy Commissioner first to consider and dispose of the application for condonation of delay dated 9 July 2010, and thereafter to decide the appeal on its merits in accordance with law if delay is condoned.

All parties’ contentions were kept open