The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd v. Majibur Rahman and 4 Ors

ORDER

12.12.2024

Heard Mr. S.K. Goswami, learned counsel for the applicant. Also heard Mr. B.K. Das, learned counsel for the respondent no.1 and Mr. S.P. Sharma, learned counsel for the respondent no.5. This is an application filed under Section 5 of the Limitation Act for condonation of delay of 182 days in preferring the connected appeal against the judgment and award dated 11.03.2022 passed by the learned Member, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Udalguri, in MAC Case No. 17/2017. The ground for delay in preferring the connected appeal has been Page No.# 4/5 explained in paragraph no. 3 of the application. It is submitted that after passing the judgment in MAC Case No. 17/2017 on 11.03.2022, the engaged Advocate applied for certified copy of the judgment and the same had been prepared on 30.07.2022. Thereafter, the appellant company received a certified copy of the judgment from the engaged Advocate on 20.08.2022. Immediately, thereafter, the processing officer of the petitioner company collected the record and prepare the Office Note and put the same before competent authority on

02.09.2022 and the competent authority on 13.09.2022, recommended the MAC Case for preferring appeal. Finally the Regional Manager of the petitioner's Company agreed and recommended to file an appeal by letter dated

21.09.2022. Thereafter, the petitioner company handed over the analogous file on 30.09.2022 and file was handed over to the advocate for preferring an appeal on 13.09.2022, but due to inadvertent mistake, the advocate was not instructed to prefer connected appeal. As a result, petitioner company handed over the file to the dealing Advocate on 02.12.2022 for preferring an appeal. Thereafter, the connected appeal has been filed on 09.12.2022. As a result, there is a delay of 182 days in the preferring appeal. The learned counsel for the applicant further submits that there was no deliberate or intentional negligence of the petitioner company in preferring the connected appeal and hence, prays for condonation of delay in filing appeal. Mr. Sharma, the learned counsel for the respondent no. 5 submits that he has no objection, if the delay is condoned. The respondent no. 1, however, filed an objection stating that the delay in filing the connected appeal has not been properly explained and as this is a contested case where the company is expected to have applied for certified copy of the judgment and till appeal, if any, within the stipulated time. But in the instant case there is a delay of 182 Page No.# 5/5 days which cannot be condoned unless properly explained. Heard the learned counsel for the parties. Upon hearing the parties and on consideration and the explanation made by the applicant for delay in preferring appeal, particularly in paragraph no. 3 of the application, this Court is satisfied that the applicant has properly and satisfactorily explained the cause of delay in filing the connected appeal and the appellant was prevented from sufficient cause for not preferring the connected appeal within the stipulated time. In view of the observations made above, the delay of 182 days in filing the connected appeal in hereby condoned. The I.A. stands allowed and disposed of. Registry shall number the appeal and list for admission on a date to be fixed by the Registry. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010269682022 ooooooo undefined ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oI.A.(Civil)/90/2023o THEoORIENTALoINSURANCEoCO.oLTD.o AoCOMPANYoREGISTEREDoUNDERoTHEoCOMPANIESoACT,o1956.o REPRESENTEDoBYoITSoREGIONALoMANAGER,oULUBARI,oGUWAHATI-o7 VERSUSo MAJIBURoRAHMANoANDo4oORS.o S/OoLATEoHUSSAINoALI,o VILL.-oUDALGURIoNEPALIoGAON,o P.O.-oDHANSIRIoBAZAR,o P.S.-oORANG,o DIST.-oUDALGURI,oB.T.A.D.oASSAM,oPIN-o784114. 2:RANAoDEVoSAIKIA oS/OoGUNAoKANTAoSAIKIA o R/OoWARDoNO.o7 oN.T.oROAD oNORTHoLAKHIMPUR o P.O.oANDoP.S.-oNORTHoLAKHIMPUR oDIST.-oNORTHoLAKHIMPUR oASSAM oPIN-o787001. 3:MD.oJAHANGIRoALAM oS/OoABDULoWAHIB o VILL.-oFASALPURoDHUBURI o P.O.oANDoP.S.-oDHUBURI Page No.# 2/5 DIST.- DHUBURI ASSAM PIN- 783301. 4:PARIMAL DAS S/O LATE J. CHANDRA DAS VILL.- NO. 2 DARRANG BAHJHER P.O.- SILBORI P.S.- DALGAON DIST.- DARRANG ASSAM PIN- 784148. 5:NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED MANGALDAI BRANCH REP. BY ITS REGIONAL MANAGER G.S. ROAD BHANGAGARH GUWAHATI- 05 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. S K GOSWAMI, MR. R SHARMA Advocate for the Respondent : MS. R D MOZUMDAR (r-5), MR. B K DAS (R-1),MR. M ISLAM (r-4),MR. S P SHARMA (r-5),MS. C MOZUMDAR (r-5) Linked Case : THE ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO. LTD . VERSUS MAJIBUR RAHMAN AND4 ORS . A Page No.# 3/5 ------------ Advocate for : MR. S K GOSWAMI Advocate for : appearing for MAJIBUR RAHMAN AND4 ORS . A Linked Case : THE ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO. LTD . VERSUS MAJIBUR RAHMAN AND4 ORS . A ------------ Advocate for : MR. S K GOSWAMI Advocate for : appearing for MAJIBUR RAHMAN AND4 ORS . A BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BUDI HABUNG