R.F.A. No. 3922 of 2007 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.M. No. 7590-CI of 2007 and R.F.A. No. 3922 of 2007 Date of decision: September 16, 2008 Simrat Kaur and others .. Appellants v. The State of Haryana and others .. Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. Rakesh Gupta, Advocate for Mr. Vikram Singh, Advocate for the appellants. Mr. Navneet Singh, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana for the respondents. Rajesh Bindal J. This is an application for condonation of delay of 17 years and 53 days in filing the present appeal before this Court against the award dated 15.3.1989, passed by learned Additional District Judge, Karnal. Briefly, the facts are that land measuring 6656 kanals 19 marlas, situated in Village Baholi, Tehsil Panipat was acquired vide notification dated 19.3.1986 issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the Act') for installation of Refinery in Village Baholi. The same was followed by notification under Section 6 of the Act on 24.7.1985. The Land Acquisition Collector (for short, `the Collector') gave award of Rs. 20,000/- per acre for chahi/nehri land; Rs. 10,000/- per acre for barani land and Rs. 5,000/- per acre for Banjar kind of land. Aggrieved against the same, the land owners filed objections which were referred to the learned Additional District Judge, Karnal who keeping in view the material placed on record by the parties, upheld the award of the Collector. Learned counsel for the applicants-appellants submitted that delay of 17 years and 53 days in filing the present appeal before this Court deserves to be condoned. The submission is that delay should not come in the way for granting substantial justice and the technicality should give way to justice. The Court should be liberal in condoning the delay and pendency of another appeal arising out of the same acquisition is a valid ground for condonation of delay, especially when in some other cases, the delay was condoned. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. R.F.A. No. 3922 of 2007 [2] Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Mewa Ram (Deceased) by his LRs and others v. State of Haryana, (1986) 4 SCC 151 did not accept the prayer for condonation of delay in filing the appeal because in another case enhancement of compensation for the adjacent land had been made. In State of Nagaland v. Lipokao and others, (2005) 3 SCC 752, Hon'ble the Supreme Court opined that proof of sufficient cause is a condition precedent for exercise of discretion by the Court in condoning the delay In D. Gopinathan Pillai v. State of Kerala and another, (2007) 2 SCC 322, Hon'ble the Supreme Court opined that when mandatory provision is not complied and the delay is not properly, satisfactorily and convincingly explained, the Court cannot condone the delay on sympathetic ground only. It may be noticed that a number of land owners aggrieved against the award of the learned Court below with regard to the same acquisition filed appeals before this Court which were finally disposed of vide judgment dated 14.11.2003 passed in R.F.A. No. 2612 of 1991-- Balkar Singh and others v. State of Haryana. The present appeal along with application for condonation of delay of 17 years and 53 days was filed by the applicants-appellants before this Court stating therein that previously husband of appellant No.1 was pursuing the matter. After his death, another person of the village was taking care of all the cases but lateron the applicants-appellants came to know that no appeal had been filed. However, the application is lacking in details as to who was taking care of the cases and no such details of that person have been furnished in the application. There is any explanation to justify the huge period of delay. Keeping in view the aforesaid facts, I do not find that the cause shown by the applicants-appellants for condonation of delay of 17 years and 53 days in filing the appeal is sufficient. Accordingly, the application for condonation of delay is dismissed. Consequently, the appeal is also dismissed. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge 16.9.2008 mk