Govt wakes up after 409 days to challenge HC ruling
After a rap on the knuckles by judiciary, Haryana shoots off a letter warning officials that delay in filing appeal will be viewed seriously
AS PER A STATE GOVERNMENT COMMUNIQUÉ, ACTION WILL BE INITIATED AGAINST DELINQUENTS FOR FILING APPEAL WITH DELAY
Haryana government officials “consumed” 409 days in moving a file “from one desk to another and from one office to another” to decide that a Punjab and Haryana high court order should be challenged, according to a letter the state government has shot off to its bureaucrats on Wednesday.
This issue that indicates the functioning of the administration of the Manohar Lal Khattarled BJP government pertains to the October 2016 order of a single judge of the high court regarding the assured career progression (ACP) scheme of lecturers, headmasters and principals.
The judge had disposed of 52 related petitions through the order.
The grievance of the petitioners was against April 2010 order/ notification issued by the Haryana finance department, which in effect amended ACP Rules, 2008. This resulted in loss to the petitioners as they were deprived of the benefit of the ACP scheme.
The appeal has to be filed within 30 days of the single judge’s order.
“We are not inclined to condone the inordinate delay of 409 days in filing the appeal on the aforesaid irrelevant and vague explanation,” a two-judge bench of the high court pointed out while dismissing the state government’s application seeking to condone the delay.
Even as the division bench of the high court dismissed the government’s appeal on July 31, 2018, it was on November 28 (four months after the high court order) that the government dispatched the letter to the administrative secretaries and the heads of the departments about the “slackness” of the officers that led to the delay.
“Taking a very serious view of the matter, the high court bench has directed the state to take adequate precautions in filing the appeal in all the connected matters disposed of vide one single order,” reads the government’s letter marked as “urgent.”
Irresponsible attitude, the government has said, towards filing appeal with delay will be viewed seriously and that action be initiated against the delinquent(s).
As per the government communiqué, apart from the delay of 409 days in filing the appeal, the authorities filed the appeal in one case even as the single-judge ruling pertained to a bunch of 52 petitions. The two-judge bench, the government has said, also questioned why the department was not filing appeal in all the connected cases.
In the initial order, the high court stated the application seeking to condone the delay didn’t give any explanation about the action taken against the officers or officials who were at fault in not taking timely action for filing the appeal.
The high court also observed that in various delayed appeals of the Haryana government the usual explanation is: “...time was consumed in movement of file from one desk to another and from one office to another of the appellants seeking opinion about filing of appeal and sanction thereof.”
The court added that the officials who had filed the appeal were “irresponsible and casual” and that the delay didn’t occur due to any circumstances beyond their control.
The court held that delay in filing appeal was the result of “slackness” of the officials.
“They failed to act swiftly and appeal has been filed at their own leisure,” the court said, pointing out that the “casual and irresponsible attitude” disentitles the litigant to seek the benefit of condoning the inordinate delay in filing appeal.