The Madras High Court has pulled up the Tamil Nadu government over repeated and inordinate delays in filing appeals against court orders, observing that such delays could point to either “gross negligence” or “connivance with the other party.”
A bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan directed Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary N Muruganandam to conduct an appropriate inquiry into such delays.
“At this stage, we are constrained to issue a direction to the Chief Secretary of the state as we are finding that in a large number of cases, the appeals are being filed after a great delay and lame excuses, as in the present case, are being made. It is either gross negligence or a case of connivance with the other party,” the court said.
The bench also observed that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption should conduct a discreet inquiry in cases where appeals have been filed after long delays and where the state or its authorities have significant stakes involved.
The observations came while dismissing a petition filed by the Greater Chennai Corporation over a delay of 1,421 days in filing an appeal against a judgement delivered in October 2021.
The case stemmed from a petition filed by Kannammal Education Trust, which alleged that a road had been laid within property owned by the trust. In an order dated October 7, 2021, a single judge had directed an inquiry to ascertain whether the road had been constructed on the property and to determine appropriate compensation if required.
The corporation told the court that the delay occurred because the certified copy of the single-judge order could not be found in its office. It also said that documents sought from revenue authorities had been provided only after a significant delay, which further contributed to the late filing of the appeal.