1 FARAD CONTINUATION SHEET No. IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH AT NAGPUR Writ Petition No. 3770/2010 (Tillottama Krishnarao Kawadkar VERSUS Krushi Vidnyan Shikshan Prasarak Mandal & others) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, Court's or Judge's orders appearances, Court's orders of directions and Registrar's orders - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Shri P.S. Patil, counsel for the petitioner. Shri Nikhil Gaikwad, counsel for the R-1 & 2. CORAM : SMT. VASANTI A. NAIK, J. DATE : JANUARY 19 , 2011 . By this petition, the petitioner impugns the order passed by the Presiding Officer School Tribunal, Amravati on 30.10.2009 rejecting an application filed by the petitioner for condonation of delay in filing the appeal. The petitioner claims to have been appointed on the post of Shikshan Sevak by the respondent nos.1 and 2 in the year 2001 on probation till 03.04.2004. The services of the petitioner were terminated by an order dated 06.08.2002 with effect from 06.08.2002. The petitioner challenged the termination before the Presiding Officer, School Tribunal, Amravati in October- 2009 along with an application for condonation of delay in filing the appeal before the Tribunal. It was the case of the petitioner in the application for condonation of delay that after her termination, the petitioner remained in touch with the management to enquire about the vacancy but, she was not accommodated by the management as the post was not available. It is stated in the application that during this period, there was a dissolution of the marriage between the petitioner and her husband and the 2 petitioner had started residing separately. As a result of the family problems, it is the case of the petitioner, that she was not able to pursue the matter. It is stated in the application that in the month of September-2005, when the petitioner became aware about the availability of the vacancy, she filed an application before the Education Officer with a request to grant the fresh appointment in the school. However, according to the petitioner, her request was not considered and lastly the petitioner was constrained to approach before the One Member Grievance Committee at Nagpur challenging her termination of the year 2002. The Grievance Committee, however, dismissed the appeal on the ground that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the same. The order was passed by the Grievance Committee on 25.06.2009 and according to the petitioner, the appeal was immediately filed before the School Tribunal in October-2009. The respondent nos.1 and 2 denied the claim of the petitioner and submitted that the petitioner had not shown any sufficient cause for belatedly filing the appeal before the Tribunal. The delay, according to the respondent nos. 1 and 2, was not properly explained and the appeal was hopelessly barred by limitation. Since the appeal was not filed by the petitioner before the Grievance Committee till the year 2009, according to the respondent nos.1 and 2, the petitioner cannot take advantage of the order passed by the Grievance Committee on 25.06.2000 refusing to entertain the appeal filed by the petitioner. On an appreciation of the application, the reply and the documents produced on record, the Presiding Officer, School Tribunal, Amravati dismissed the application for 3 condonation of delay. It appears that the Presiding Officer, School Tribunal did not commit any error whatsoever in dismissing the application filed by the petitioner for condoning the huge delay of more than seven years in filing the appeal. The Tribunal rightly held that though the services of the petitioner were allegedly terminated in the month of August-2002, she filed an appeal before the Grievance Committee on 21.03.2009 and the petitioner could not have taken the advantage of the pendency of the proceedings before the Grievance Committee as she had belatedly filed the proceedings before the Grievance Committee after a period of seven years from the date of her alleged termination. The Tribunal rightly held that the reasons stated by the petitioner for belatedly filing the appeal were also unacceptable. It is necessary to note that in the application filed by the petitioner for condonation of delay she had not stated during which period there was a matrimonial dispute and since when she started residing separately. It is also not stated in the application as to why the petitioner waited from September- 2005 till the year 2009 though her request for a fresh appointment on the post of Shikshan Sewak in the School was not considered by the management in pursuance of an application made in September-2005. The petitioner has stated in the application that since September-2005, she approached the management from time to time and requested for reappointment but, she was not reappointed though an oral assurance was given by the management that she would be appointed on the post of the Assistant Teacher. The sequence of events stated in the application for not approaching the School Tribunal within a period of seven 4 years do not show that the petitioner was prevented by a sufficient cause to approach the Tribunal within a reasonable time. The Tribunal rightly did not believe the reasons spelt out by the petitioner in the application for condonation of delay and held that the reasons were not just and proper. The Tribunal also considered the fact that the delay was not short but, there was an inordinate delay of more than seven years in filing the appeal before the Tribunal. The order dated 30.10.2009 does not suffer from an error, much less, a jurisdictional error so as to interfere with the same in exercise of the writ jurisdiction. The writ petition fails and is dismissed with no order as to costs. JUDGE APTE