RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.M.No.9867-68-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) Date of Decision : 29.08.2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Ram Kumar ....Respondent C.M.No.9870-71-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4414 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Ajmer Singh and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9874-75-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4415 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Surender Pal ....Respondents C.M.No.9878-79-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4416 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Smt. Mam Kaur and another ....Respondents C.M.No.9882-83-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4417 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Prithvi Singh ....Respondent C.M.No.9886-87-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4418 of 2011 State of Haryana ...Appellant Versus Bharto Devi etc. ....Respondents C.M.No.9890-91-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4419 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Hukam Singh ....Respondent RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) -2- C.M.No.9894-95-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4420 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Roshni Devi and another ....Respondents C.M.No.9898-99-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4421 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Narinder Gupta and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9902-03-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4422 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Anil Kumar and another ....Respondents C.M.No.9906-07-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4423 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Veer Bhan alias Babru ....Respondent C.M.No.9910-11-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4424 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Smt. Shakuntla and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9914-15-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4425 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Ram Pal and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9918-19-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4426 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Karnail Singh and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9922-23-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4427 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Sajjan Singh and others ....Respondents RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) -3- C.M.No.9927-28-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4428 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Phoola Ram and another ....Respondents C.M.No.9830-31-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4429 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Smt. Tripti Devi and another ....Respondents C.M.No.9934-35-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4430 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Sher Singh ....Respondents C.M.No.9938-39-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4431 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Joginder Singh and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9842-43-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4432 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Nasib Singh and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9946-47-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4433 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Ramesh Kumar ....Respondent C.M.No.9950-51-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4434 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Suresh Pal ....Respondent C.M.No.9954-55-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4435 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Karambir @ Dharambir ....Respondent RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) -4- C.M.No.9958-59-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4436 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Sewa Singh ....Respondent C.M.No.9962-63-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4437 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Sahab Singh and another ....Respondents C.M.No.9966-67-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4438 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Jogi Ram @ Ishwar Singh and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9970-71-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4439 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Surinder Singh ....Respondent C.M.No.9974-75-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4440 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Amar Singh and another ....Respondents C.M.No.9978-79-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4441 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Sona Devi ....Respondent C.M.No.9982-83-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4442 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Jagdish and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9986-87-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4443 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Ram Karan ....Respondents RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) -5- C.M.No.9990-91-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4444 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Gurdian Singh ....Respondent C.M.No.9994-45-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4445 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Veer Bhan alias Babru and others ....Respondents C.M.No.9998-99-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4446 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Jagmal Singh and another ....Respondents C.M.No.10002-03-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4447 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Jarnail Singh ....Respondent C.M.No.10006-07-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4448 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Jagat Singh ....Respondent C.M.No.10010-11-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4449 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Gulab Singh ....Respondent C.M.No.10014-15-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4450 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Balbir Singh and others ....Respondents C.M.No.10018-19-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4451 of 2011 State of Haryana and others ...Appellants Versus Smt. Mam Kaur ....Respondent RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) -6- C.M.No.10022-23-CI of 2011 and RFA No.4452 of 2011 State of Haryana and another ...Appellants Versus Harpreet Singh and another ....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR GARG 1. Whether reporters of local newspapers may be allowed to see judgment ? 2. To be referred to reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ? *** Present: Mr. Indresh Goel, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. RAKESH KUMAR GARG, J (ORAL) This judgment shall dispose of 40 appeals i.e. Regular First Appeal Nos.4413 to 4452 of 2011, as the same have arisen out of one common award of the Reference Court and the same question of law is involved on the similar facts. State of Haryana has filed these appeals challenging the impugned award dated 11.5.2009 passed by Reference Court on the ground that compensation for the acquired land has been determined by the Reference Court on the higher side. All these appeals have been filed after 242 days delay of the expiry of limitation period. There is a further delay of 409 days in re-filing of these appeals. Along with these appeals, separate applications for condonation of delay of 242 days in filing as well as for condonation of delay of 409 days in re-filing these appeals have been filed. A perusal of the averments made in the application (which are identical) for condonation of delay of 242 days shows that the limitation for filing the appeal was upto 15.08.2009. District Attorney sent his comments to Legal Remembrancer, Haryana on 02.06.2009 and the Legal Remembrancer also opined vide letter dated 19.06.2009 that these cases were not fit for filing RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) -7- the appeals and the said opinion was received in the office of Administrative Head of the Department on 1.7.2009. A perusal of the averments would further show that there is no sanction of Administrative Head of the Department of the State of Haryana for filing these appeals. In fact, in para No.5 of the said application, it has been specifically averred that Chief Administrator, HUDA, Panchkula had passed the order dated 12.10.2009 for filing appeals in these cases and thereafter, the matter was taken up for filing these appeals. Learned Additional Advocate General, Haryana, representing the State could not show from the record that any sanction of the competent authority of the State of Haryana for filing these appeals was given. Learned Additional Advocate General Haryana also could not show as to how in the absence of any sanction from the State of Haryana to file the appeals and also keeping in view the fact that the Legal Remembrancer Haryana has already opined that these cases were not fit for filing appeals, how these appeals have been filed on behalf of the State of Haryana, simply because Chief Administrator, HUDA, had passed order on 12.10.2009 for filing appeals in these cases. It is not in dispute that Chief Administrator HUDA has no authority to pass an order to file appeals on behalf of State of Haryana. Not only this, even after the aforesaid order dated 12.10.2009 of Chief Administrator, HUDA, Panchkula, the State had re-filed these appeals only on 13.07.2011 and the only explanation given is that the time was consumed in getting the court fee released, preparing the stay applications and affidavits and removing objections including certified copies of the short orders which were applied and received later on. It may also be seen that even draft affidavit in support of the application for condonation of delay was prepared RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) -8- on 1.4.2011 yet this appeal was only filed on 13.07.2011. The delay caused has not been explained except to state that the file was put up before the one officer and thereafter the other officer. It may also be relevant to read the averment made in the application for condonation of delay of 409 days in re-filing this appeal which reads thus:- “That the delay in re-filing the appeal is not intentional rather the same has occurred due to administrative exigencies for removing the objections raised by the Registry of Hon'ble High Court and also due to heavy litigation of work and shortage of staff. The office of Advocate General, Haryana has to contact /seek information from the department concerned. In this way some delay usually occur in re-filing the appeal which deserves to be condoned to be condoned in the interest of justice.” It is well settled that delay in filing as well as re-filing the appeal which has occurred due to administrative exigencies cannot be a ground to condone such delay. Even otherwise from the averments, it is clearly made out that the appellants have taken a very causal approach in filing of these appeals. Thus, I find no merit in these applications for condonation of delay in filing/re-filing these appeals and the same are rejected. RFA Nos.4413 to 4452 of 2011 Since the applications for condonation of delay in filing as well as re-filing have been rejected, the appeals are also ordered to be dismissed being time barred. August 29, 2011 (RAKESH KUMAR GARG) savita JUDGE RFA No.4413 of 2011 (O&M) -9-