Courts May Direct Disposal of Long-Pending Statutory Appeals Where Administrative Inaction Overrides General Procedural Restraint

The petitioner, M. Thangaraj, filed an appeal on October 13, 2020, before the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Erode.

This appeal challenged an order passed by the Tahsildar, Perundurai, dated September 17, 2019 (Ref: Na.Ka. No. 4186/2019/A8).

After a delay of approximately five and a half years without a resolution from the RDO, the petitioner filed a Writ of Mandamus before the Madras High Court seeking a direction for the RDO to conduct an enquiry and dispose of the pending appeal.

1. Whether the Court should issue a Writ of Mandamus directing a time-bound disposal of a long-pending administrative appeal when no specific urgency is proven.

2. Whether the lapse of five and a half years justifies judicial intervention in administrative proceedings.

The court applied the principle governing the issuance of a Writ of Mandamus for the disposal of representations.

It established that routine directions to dispose of representations do not serve the cause of justice unless an "urgency is established" by the party.

However, the court recognized a secondary principle: that judicial intervention is necessary when petitions are kept pending for an "unreasonably long time" by authorities, provided the authority also balances such directions against the pendency of other similar petitions.

The Court analyzed the timeline of the case, noting that the application had been stagnant for over five years.

Justice S.M. Subramaniam reasoned that while Courts generally refrain from allowing parties to "jump the queue" without proven urgency, the excessive delay in this instance warranted a prompt resolution.

The Court clarified that while it would intervene due to the lapse of time, the authority must still consider the petitioner’s specific urgency while managing its overall volume of similar pending petitions to ensure administrative fairness.

The Court mandated that the disposal must be conducted after "affording an opportunity to the parties concerned".

No costs were awarded.