1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD SECOND APPEAL NO. 304 OF 2010 Padmanabhan S/o Shridharan Nair, Age : 60 Years, Occu. : Business, R/o Nanded, Dist. Nanded. .. .. Appellant Versus 1. The Collector and President of Mahsool Karmachari Kalyan Samiti Canteen, Collector Office, Nanded. 2. The Secretary, Mahsool Karmachari Kalyan Samiti Canteen, Collector Office, Nanded. .. .. Respondents Shri U. B. Bilolikar, Advocate for the Appellant. Shri P. P. More, A.G.P. for Respondents/State. CORAM : S. V. GANGAPURWALA, J. DATE : 31ST AUGUST, 2010. ORAL JUDGMENT : . The present appellant had filed a suit bearing R.C.S. No. 2 617/2006. The said suit was partly decreed to the extent of declaration, but the prayer of perpetual injunction was rejected. Aggrieved by the same, the present appellant preferred regular civil appeal before the District Court at Nanded. There was delay in filing the said appeal. As such, the present appellant preferred Miscellaneous Civil Application No. 98/2009 for condonation of delay in filing the appeal. The delay was of 2 months and 13 days. The Principal District Judge, Nanded, rejected the said application by its order dated 07th April, 2010. Being aggrieved by the same, the appellant has preferred this second appeal. The substantial question of law that arises is : Whether the lower Appellate Court has construed the concept of sufficient cause in its proper perspective ? 2. The reasons given by the present appellant in his application for condonation of delay was that, the applicant is age-old person. After he received the certified copy of the judgment and decree, the Courts were on summer vacation. Thereafter, he was suffering from joint pains and was required to under go medical treatment at Mumbai. 3. The Principal District Judge rejected the application on the 3 ground that the theory put forth by the applicant is not believable, so also disbelieved the doctors certificate. He also observed that the medical certificate did not indicate that he required further treatment after 8th of June. On that count the application came to be rejected. 4. Shri Bilolikar, learned counsel for the appellant contended that, the substantive right of the appellant may not be denied on the ground of limitation. The reasons were sufficient for condoning the delay. The Court below ought not to have taken such hyper technical approach. 5. The learned Assistant Government Pleader vehemently opposed the said contentions of the appellant. According to him no plausible reasons are stated by the appellant in the application. The said doctor's certificate does not inspire confidence and the Court has rightly rejected the application for condonation of delay. 6. With the assistance of learned counsel, I have gone through the pleadings and the judgments. 4 7. The appeal is valuable and substantive right of a litigant. The appellant was not to gain anything by delay. When the technical consideration and substantial justice are pitted against each other, the cause of substantial justice should prevail. It is a trite law that judiciary is respected not because it can deny justice on technical ground, but it can sub-serve the cause of substantial justice. 8. The appellant has produced on record the medical certificate and has also stated the grounds for delay. The delay is only of 2 months and 13 days. It is not an abnormal delay. The learned Principal District Judge, Nanded, has taken a hyper technical approach while rejecting the application for condonation of delay, which would tantamount to the denial of substantial and statutory right of appeal prescribed by law to the appellant. 9. In the result, I allow the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment dated 07.04.2010 passed by Principal District Judge, Nanded, in Misc. Civil Application No. 98/2009 and direct that the appeal filed by the appellant against the judgment and decree passed by the IInd Jt. Civil Judge Senior Division, 5 Nanded, dated 24.04.2009 in R.C.S. No. 61/2006 be registered. However, there shall be no order as to costs. [ S. V. GANGAPURWALA, J.] bsb/August 10