The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has condoned a delay of 11,926 days in filing a Second Appeal before the court by the State government against a 1988 judgment and decree passed by the Subordinate Court in Devakottai in favour of private parties with respect to the extent of 291 acres of land in Karaikudi.
Justice K.K. Ramakrishnan directed that a cost of ₹5 lakh be paid to the legal heirs of the original plaintiff. The court observed that the criteria for condoning the delay is the acceptable reason and not the extent of the delay.
The court observed that the government has no special privilege to claim condonation of the delay. At the same time, the nature of the fraud that had been committed in the course of the trial has to be looked into and where public interest is at stake and the cause also is reasonable, judicial indulgence is required at the time of considering the appeal filed by the government with huge delay as in the present case, the court observed.
No absolute law has been laid down by the Supreme Court to dismiss the condone delay petition when the order was obtained by a fraudulent litigation. In such a case, the dismissal of a condone delay petition would cause injustice to the public and the social justice system, the court observed.
The government and the officials were not aware of the earlier proceedings and not in a position to look into the earlier litigation filed by the earlier government. The officials have also committed a mistake by not following up the case. After the change of the government, the present government officials were unable to find out the records and hence, there was a delay of 11,629 days. The explanation is acceptable in the circumstance of the present case, the court observed.
The court observed that in the interest of justice it was inclined to accept the reason stated by the government to condone the delay to serve substantial justice and also to avoid a meritorious case failing on the ground of delay.
Published – October 30, 2025 08:09 pm IST
