The Employees State Insurance Corporation and 2 Ors v. M/S Himalaya Printers and 6 Ors

ORDER

24.06.2024

Heard Shri M. Smith, learned counsel for the petitioners, who by means of this petition filed under Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1963 has prayed for condonation of delay of 801 days in preferring the connected appeal. The appeal has been preferred against a judgment and order dated

24.08.2016 passed by the learned E.I. Court in ESI Case No. 4/2014. Notices were issued on 01.02.2019 whereafter the respondents had entered appearance. However, no counsel has appeared today in spite of the names reflected in the cause list. The learned counsel for the petitioners by referring to the averments made in paragraphs 3 & 4 has submitted that because of some office formalities and also the ailments of the conducting counsel, the delay has occasioned and there was no wilful and deliberate laches on the part of the petitioners. The aforesaid grounds have been considered. An adjudication of an application concerning condonation of delay has to be done by taking a pragmatic and justice oriented approach wherein substantial justice is to be preferred over technicalities. At the same time, the aspect that by operation of the law of limitation, a substantial right accrued to the other party cannot be wholly ignored. Considering the above, this Court is of the opinion that the delay may be conducted which however is required to be subjected to certain conditions. Page No.# 4/4 The instant application accordingly stands allowed and the delay of 801 days in preferring the appeal against the judgment and order dated 24.08.2016 by the learned Employees Insurance Court is condoned subject to payment of Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) in favour of the Gauhati High Court Bar Association Welfare Fund. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010017722019 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oI.A.(Civil)/322/2019o ooooooooooooooooooinoMFA/140/2019 THEoEMPLOYEESoSTATEoINSURANCEoCORPORATIONoANDo2oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoITSoREGIONALoDIRECTOR,oNORTHoEASTERNoREGION,o REGIONALoOFFICE,oBAMUNIMAIDAM,oGUWAHATIo21 2:oTHEoASST.oDIRECTOR oESIC oREGIONALoOFFICE oBAMUNIMAIDAM oGUWAHATI-21 3:oRECOVERYoOFFICER oESIC oNER oBAMUNIMAIDAM oGUWAHATI-2o VERSUSo M/SoHIMALAYAoPRINTERSoANDo6oORSo MILANPUR,oCHANDMARI,oP.S.oCHANDMARI,oGUWAHATIo21,oKAMRUPo(M),o ASSAM. 2:RANJIToKUMARoSAIKIA oS/OoLATEoTARUNoCHANDRAoSAIKIA oR/OoMILANPUR oCHANDMARI oP.S.oCHANDMARI oGUWAHATI-21 oKAMRUPo(M) 3:KULENoMEDHI oR/OoCHENGA Page No.# 2/4 DIST. AND P.O. BARPETA ASSAM. 4:SMTI KAMALA BORO R/O HAZARIKAPARA P.O. GORESWAR DIST. UDALGURI ASSAM. 5:DIPENDRA NATH ROY R/O HEPALI CHOWK NOONMATI GUWAHATI-20 ASSAM. 6:SMTI RINA DUTTA R/O SALBARI NOONMATI GUWAHATI-20 ASSAM. 7:IMRAN ALI R/O BAHARI DIST. AND P.O. BARPETA ASSAM. 8:RAMANI DEKA R/O HAZARIKA CHOWK P.O. SIPAJHAR DIST. MANGALDOI ASSAM. 9:HALADHAR DAS SHARMA R/O RUPNAGAR GUWAHATI KAMRUP (M) ASSAM Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. K K NANDI Advocate for the Respondent : MR. R SARMA Page No.# 3/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR MEDHI