IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA LPA No.551 of 2008 THE REGISTRAR,PATNA UNIVERSITY,PATNA Versus RAJENDRA PRASAD & ORS ----------- For the appellant : Mr.Suman Kumar Jha, Advocate . ------- P R E S E N T Hon'ble the Chief Justice & Hon'ble Mr. Justice Kishore K. Mandal Dated, the 24th July, 2008. Vide order dated 10th of October, 2007, the Single Judge directed the present appellant to pay cost of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand) to the counsel for the writ petitioner from his personal account as in the opinion of the Single Judge the matter had to be adjourned on that date because of non-compliance of the earlier order. 2. The counsel for the appellant submits that in compliance of the order dated 10th of October, 2007, an amount of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand) has been paid to the advocate for the writ petitioner as directed. The counsel would submit that there was no fault on the part of the appellant and at least the University of Patna must have been directed to hold an inquiry into the lapse that resulted into an adjournment on 10th of October, 2007 and pin point the responsibility of erring officer/official and cost must have been - 2 - ordered to be paid by such erring officer/official. 3. The counsel for the appellant also informed us that the writ petition has now been disposed of. He submitted that the copy of the LPA was sought to be served upon the counsel for the original petitioner (respondent no.1 herein), but he refused to accept service on the ground that matter had already been disposed of. 4. In what has been submitted by the counsel for the appellant, we do not deem it necessary to consider the question on merit as to whether there was any justification in imposing the cost of Rs.10,000/- upon the appellant. However, the submission of the counsel for the appellant is not unreasonable that the University of Patna must have identified the officer for whose fault the earlier order of the court could not be complied with and that resulted in adjournment on 10th of October, 2007. We, accordingly, dispose of this appeal by the following order: (i) The Vice Chancellor, Patna University shall hold an inquiry either himself or by nominating any responsible officer as to for whose fault the matter had to be adjourned by the court on 10th of October, 2007. If the appellant is found guilty of fault, nothing further in the matter shall be required to be done as he has already paid the cost of Rs.10,000/- as per the order dated 10th of October, 2007. On the other hand, if due to the fault of some other officer/official, the earlier order of the court could not be complied with and that resulted - 3 - in adjournment of the matter on 10th of October, 2007, the liability shall be fastened on such officer and cost of Rs.10,000/- shall be recovered from such erring officer/official and paid to the appellant. 5. This disposes of limitation application (I.A.No.4323/2008) as well. R.M. Lodha, CJ Kishore K. Mandal, J. sunil