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Sudhakar Baburao Nangnure Etc. v. Noreshwar Raghunathrao Shende & Ors. Etc.

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 1020Decided 9 Oct 2017
Civil Appeal Nos. 16122-16130 of 2017
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice R. Banumathi

Background

This order does not decide the main case. Three writ petitions on a promotion and seniority dispute were pending before the Bombay High Court, which had passed a common interim status quo order in 2016. The appellants came to the Supreme Court because of delay in the final hearing, after two earlier Supreme Court orders in March and April 2017 had already asked the High Court to dispose of the petitions expeditiously.

Decision Breakdown

This is not a final decision on the main case. The Court did not go into the merits. It recorded the parties' agreement to appear before the High Court on 31 October 2017 and directed that the writ petitions be finally heard and disposed of within 10 days. The appeals were disposed of with this direction.

Lesson Learnt

There is no final ruling yet on the promotion and seniority dispute, which the High Court must decide. The Supreme Court may step in only to make a lower court decide a long-pending case by a fixed date, without saying who should win.

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

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