The Supreme Court has summoned Madhya Pradesh’s Law Secretary to explain delays in filing appeals, notably one that was 177 days late. The court highlighted prior instances of delays, which had been unjustified. Instead of dismissing the case, the court mandates accountability in decision-making regarding challenging High Court orders.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has summoned the Law Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh government to explain who is approving the filing of appeals before the court after excessive delays spanning hundreds of days.
A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan issued the direction while hearing an appeal in the case State of Madhya Pradesh vs Gokulchand. The appeal was filed with a 177-day delay against a High Court order that had already refused to condone a 656-day delay in an earlier case.
The Supreme Court noted that it “admires the courage with which the State of Madhya Pradesh has been filing Special Leave Petitions in this Court over a period of time with delay of 300/400 days.”
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The Bench observed that the State failed to present any valid reason for the delay before the High Court, which had already declined to condone the gross delay.
While the easiest course of action would have been to dismiss the petition due to the delay, the court decided to take a different approach. It ordered:
“…but we do not intend to do this as we have something else in our mind. We direct the Law Secretary of the State of Madhya Pradesh to remain present before us on 14-2-2025 along with the original files containing the decision taken to challenge the impugned order passed by the High Court declining to condone the delay of 656 days. We would like to know who is that authority who took the decision that the order passed by the High Court is worth challenging before this Court.”
The State of Madhya Pradesh was represented by Additional Advocate General Nachiketa Joshi, Deputy Advocate General Bhupendra Pratap Singh, and Advocates Sarad Kumar Singhania and Rashmi Singhania.
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This move by the Supreme Court signals a strong stance against unnecessary delays in legal proceedings and highlights the importance of accountability in decision-making when filing appeals before the highest court.
Case Title – State of Madhya Pradesh vs Gokulchand
Read the Judgement here:
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