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Kalpana Banik & Ors. v. Swapan Kumar Paul & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 1248 of 2019)Decided 28 Jan 2019
Civil Appeal No. 1248 of 2019
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Indu Malhotra

Background

The appellants' second appeal (Regular Second Appeal No. 6 of 2006) before the Gauhati High Court, Agartala Bench (Tripura), had been dismissed on 23 November 2016 after the High Court declined to condone a 334-day delay in filing it. The appellants then approached the Supreme Court by special leave petition, which itself required condonation of delay in filing.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court condoned the appellants' delay in approaching it and granted leave to appeal. On the merits, the Court gave the appellants one further opportunity to have their second appeal heard, but only on a firm condition: they were directed to deposit Rs. 1,50,000 with the Registrar of the Tripura High Court within two months. If deposited, the sum would be released to the respondents (on proof of identity) and the second appeal (R.S.A. No. 6 of 2006) would be restored and heard afresh on its merits, with the Tripura High Court requested to dispose of it within three months of receiving a copy of this order. The Court was explicit that if the appellants failed to deposit the amount within the stipulated period, they would get no benefit from this order, and the High Court's original order dismissing the second appeal for delay would simply stand. The appeal before the Supreme Court was disposed of in these terms.

Lesson Learnt

Even after a lower court has refused to excuse a delay and dismissed an appeal, the Supreme Court can grant one further conditional chance to be heard on the merits, but such relief is often tied to a strict, time-bound financial condition, and missing that deadline automatically revives the original unfavourable order with no further recourse.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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