The Supreme Court of India slammed the Government of Odisha for unexplained delays in filing appeals, calling its conduct lazy and terming the justification a lame excuse. Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma said deadline failures undermined discipline.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court recently criticized the Odisha government for its significant delay in pursuing an appeal, describing its approach as utterly lazy and dismissing its justifications for the delay as a “lame excuse”.
A Bench consisting of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma noted that the State had consistently missed legal deadlines for filing appeals in the case.
The Court remarked,
“We have found the State of Odisha to be utterly lethargic, tardy and indolent not only before the High Court but also before this Court. Notwithstanding that its appeal was dismissed as time-barred by the High Court, this Court has been approached by the State of Odisha four months after expiry of the period of limitation,”
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The Court stressed that delays cannot be commonplace and must be justified with proper reasons.
It stated,
“Condonation of delay cannot be claimed as a matter of right. It is entirely the discretion of the Court whether or not to condone delay,”
The Court then rejected the State’s rationale that the delay in filing the appeal was not intentional but rather due to procedural holdups in securing approval from higher authorities.
The Court asserted,
“Despite all the latitude that is shown to a ‘State’, we are of the clear opinion that the cause sought to be shown here by the State of Odisha is not an explanation but a lame excuse,”
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This appeal relates to a legal dispute that began in 2011 when the school’s managing committee petitioned the State Education Tribunal for the release of grant-in-aid (government financial support) under the Odisha Education Act, 1969.
In December 2013, the tribunal ordered the State government and the Director of Secondary Education to provide financial support for the school’s staff. The Odisha government contested the tribunal’s 2013 order before the High Court of Orissa, but only did so in October 2015.
Significantly, this appeal was filed after the statutory deadline (limitation period) and lacked the necessary certified copy of the tribunal’s order. This issue remained unaddressed for nearly eight years.
In April 2023, the High Court dismissed the appeal for not having the certified copy of the tribunal order.
The State eventually acquired the document in February 2024 and sought to restore the case and excuse the delay, but the High Court rejected this request in February 2025, stating that the appeal had remained defective since 2015, resulting in a delay exceeding a decade.
Following this, the State filed a Special Leave Petition with the Supreme Court, which itself was submitted late and subsequently refiled after addressing some defects.
In its order on February 9, the Supreme Court reviewed the explanations offered for the delays and deemed them inadequate.
It acknowledged that in certain cases, a liberal approach may be appropriate when government entities seek to condone delays. However, referencing the case of Commissioner of Wealth Tax, Bombay v. Amateur Riders Club, Bombay, the Court pointed out that even such leniency has its limits.
The Court remarked that the State had exhibited prolonged inaction before both the High Court of Orissa and the Supreme Court of India.
As a result, the Court declined to excuse the delay and dismissed the Special Leave Petition as time-barred.
Advocate Sanjana Saddy represented the State of Orissa.
Case Title: State of Orissa & Ors. v. Managing Committee of Namatara Girls High School