Appeal No 460 of 1987
388 From the Judgment and Order dated 144
1986 of the Jammu  and Kashmir High Court in Civil 1st Appeal No 54 of 1985
Altar Anjad Adv
General and SK Bhattacharya for the Appellants
SM Aquil and Shakeel Ahmed for the Respondents
The Order of the Court was delivered by THAKKAR J To condone or not to condone is not the only question
Whether or not to apply the same standard in applying the sufficient cause test to all the litigants regardless of their personality in the said context is another
An appeal preferred by the State of Jammu  Kashmir arising out of a decision enhancing compensation in respect of acquisition of lands for a public purpose to the extent of nearly 14 lakhs rupees by making an upward revision of the order of 800 from Rs 1000 per kanal to Rs8000 per kanal which also raised important questions as regards principles of valuation was dismissed as time barred being 4 days beyond time by rejecting an application for condonation of delay
Hence this appeal by special leave
The legislature has conferred the power to condone delay by enacting Section 51 of the Indian of 1963 in order to enable the Courts to do substantial justice to parties by disposing of matters on merits 
The expression sufficient cause employed by the legislature is adequately elastic to enable the courts to apply the law in a meaning ful manner which subserves the ends of justice that being the life purpose for the existence of the institution of Courts
It is common knowledge that this Court has been making a justifiably liberal approach in matters instituted in this Court
But the message does not appear to have percolated down to all the other Courts in the hierarchy
And such a liberal approach is adopted on principle as it is realized that Any appeal or any application other than an application under any of the provisions of Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908
may be admitted after the prescribed period if the appellant or the applicant satisfies the court that he had sufficient cause for not preferring the appeal or making the application within such period 389 1
Ordinarily a litigant does not stand to benefit by lodging an appeal late
Refusing to condone delay can result in a meritorious matter being thrown out at the very threshold and cause of justice being defeated
As against this when delay is con doned the highest that can happen is that a cause would be decided on merits after hearing the parties
Every day s delay must be explained does not mean that a pedantic approach should be made
Why not every hour s delay every second s delay The doctrine must be applied in a rational common sense pragmatic manner
When substantial justice and technical considerations are pitted against each other cause of substantial justice deserves to be preferred for the other side cannot claim to have vested right in injustice being done because of a non deliberate delay
There is no presumption that delay is occasioned deliberately or on account of culpable negligence or on account of mala fides
A litigant does not stand to benefit by resorting to delay
In fact he runs a serious risk
It must be grasped that judiciary is respected not on account of its power to legalize injustice on technical grounds but because it is capable of removing injustice and is expected to do so
Making a justice oriented approach from this perspective there was sufficient cause for condoning the delay in the institution of the appeal
The fact that it was the State  which was seeking condonation and not a private party was altogether irrelevant
The doctrine of equality before law demands that all litigants including the State as a liti gant are accorded the same treatment and the law is admin istered in an even handed manner
There is no warrant for according a stepmotherly treatment when the State  is the applicant praying for condonation of delay
In fact experi ence shows that on account of an impersonal machinary no one in charge of the matter is directly hit or hurt by the judgment sought to be subjected to appeal and the in 390 herited bureaucratic methodology imbued with the note mak ing file pushing and passing on the buck ethos delay on its part is less difficult to understand though more diffi cult to approve
In any event the State which represents the collective cause of the community does not deserve a litigant non grata status
The Courts therefore have to be informed with the spirit and philosophy of the provision in the course of the interpretation of the expression suffi cient cause
So also the same approach has to be evidenced in its application to matters at hand with the end in view to do even handed justice on mertis in preference to the approach which scuttles a decision on merits
Turning to the facts of the matter giving rise to the present appeal we are satisfied that sufficient cause exists for the delay
The order of the High Court dismissing the appeal before it as time barred is therefore
set aside
Delay is condoned
And the matter is remitted to the High Court
The High Court will now dispose of the appeal on merits after affording reasonable opportunity of hearing to both the sides
Appeal is allowed accordingly
No costs
PSS Appeal allowed


Summary:
An appeal by the State
against a decision enhancing compensation in respect of acquisition of lands for a public purpose raising important questions as regards principles of valuation was dismissed by the High Court as time barred being four days beyond time by rejecting an appli cation for condonation of dalay
The State appealed to this Court by special leave
Allowing the appeal HLED 11 The expression sufficient cause  employed by the legislature in s5 of the Indian is adequately elastic to enable the Courts to do substantial justice to parties by disposing of matters on merits
388E F 12 The State which represents the collective cause of the community
does not deserve a litigant non grata status
The doctrine of equality before law demands that all litigants including the State as a litigant are accorded the same treatment and the law is administered in an equitable man ner
The Courts therefore have to be informed with the spirit and philosophy of the provision in the course of the interpretation of the expression sufficient cause 
So also the same approach has to be evidenced in its application to matters at hand with the end in view to do even handed justice on merits in preference to the approach which scut tles a decision on merits
390B C 2
In the instant case sufficient cause exists for delay in instituting the appeal in the High Court
Delay is therefore condoned
The matter is remitted to the High Court for disposal on merits
390C D