Supreme Court: In a case where, for the enormous delay of 1697 days in filing, the Government said that there was a public interest involved and that there were certain other matters pending, the bench of SK Kaul amd KM Joseph, JJ said that the Government doesn’t have the right to walk into this Court as and when they want even if other matters are pending.
It said,
“All we can say that if there is public interest involved then the Government has been grossly negligent to look after public interest.”
The application for condonation of delay showed that in the worst case scenario, with all its delays, the matter was ready for filing of the SLP on 18.02.2015 whereafter a certified copy of the order was applied later on and thereafter we straightaway come about 2½ years later on 23.08.2018.
Hence, stating that there was no merit in the application, the Court said that if the Government has suffered any consequences thereof monetarily or otherwise, it can recover financial recompensation from the persons responsible for causing loss to the Government.
The Court, hence, dismissed the SLP as barred by time.
[State of West Bengal v. Soroj Kumar Mondal, 2020 SCC OnLine SC 532 , order dated 19.06.2020]
