(1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR. CIVIL APPLICATION [F] No. 2420 OF 2010 IN FIRST APPEAL ST. No. 12089/2010. Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. VERSUS Shivkumar Ishwaryya Kokle and others. ________________________________________________________________________________ Office Notes, Office Memoramda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders of directions Court's or Judge's orders. and Registrar's Orders. CORAM : R. M. SAVANT, J. DATED : FEBRUARY 22, 2011. Heard Shri M.M. Agnihorti, the learned Counsel for the applicant and Ms. Jachak, the learned A.G.P. for respondent nos. 2 and 3. By the above Civil Application, the applicant seeks condonation of delay of 545 days in filing the above First Appeal. The reasons why the delay has occasioned are mentioned in the Civil Application. The said reasons are to the effect that on account of administrative delay in obtaining sanctions etc., that the delay has occasioned. The applicant/appellant is a statutory body established under the Local Act known as Maharashtra Industrial Development Act, (2) 1961. The applicant/appellant has to deal with many matters concerning the acquisition of land, as the State Government acquires the land for the applicant/ appellant by having recourse to the provisions of the said Act. It is therefore, expected that the applicant/appellant acts with reasonable despatch, in so far as the matters concerning acquisition and payment of compensation is concerned. Unfortunately, the facts in the instant case are to the contrary and belies the approach that is expected of a statutory body like the applicant/appellant. In the instant case it is relevant to note that the award of the Reference Court is dated 03.10.2008. The Regional Office of the applicant/ appellant became aware of the Award in November, 2008. On 18.11.2008 the concerned Regional Officer forwarded the xerox copy of the said Award to the Head Office at Bombay. Thereafter in February 2009, the said Regional Officer fell ill and additional charge was given to another officer at that time. Thereafter, the said In-charge officer got the complete charge as Regional Officer on 17.04.2009 and the said In- (3) charge Officer retired subsequently. It appears that on 28.07.2009, the new Regional Officer Shri Watkar came to be appointed and it is stated in the affidavit that he was not aware of the pending L.A.C. matters. It is relevant to note that the limitation for filing the appeal was long over when the Regional Officer Shri Gedam was in charge. However, it appears that no steps of whatsoever nature had been taken to expedite the process of filing the appeal and it appears that the matter was allowed to lie, without any body bothering about it. As stated here in above, such a conduct is not expected of a statutory body, more so when the issue of compensation is involved. The conduct of the officers of the applicant/appellant does not inspire confidence and shows that they are not serious about filing of the proceedings in time as possibly they feel that ultimately the prayer for condonation of delay would be granted. The said approach therefore, cannot be countenanced. In my view, though the above Civil Application is required to be allowed in the facts and circumstances of the present case, the Chief Executive Officer of the applicant/ appellant is required to take a serious note of the manner in (4) which the proceedings are sought to be filed in the higher Courts on behalf of the applicant Corporation, so that the mistakes are not repeated in future. In my view, therefore, though the above Civil Application is allowed, the applicant/appellant to pay costs of Rs. 5000/- to be deposited with the High Court Legal Services Sub Committee, Nagpur. The Chief Executive Officer would be at liberty to recover the said costs, if he so deems fit from the concerned officials of the applicant/appellant, who he thinks were responsible for the delay. The Chief Executive Officer to also issue necessary directions to the Regional Officers to see to it that the proceedings in the Higher Courts are filed promptly. If the costs as directed are not deposited by 22.03.2011, the benefit of this order would not enure to the applicant/appellant and the Civil Application will be deemed to have been dismissed. Civil Application is accordingly disposed of. JUDGE Rgd