Holding

A writ petition filed after an unreasonable delay is ordinarily liable to be dismissed, as delay and laches are material factors in the exercise of the Court’s discretionary jurisdiction under Article 226.

Summary

Shiv Dass, a former Army Medical Corps officer, became 80% disabled in 1982 and was invalidated from service. He applied for a disability pension in 1983, which was rejected, and after an unresponded appeal he filed a writ petition in 2005. The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the petition as belated. On appeal, the Supreme Court held that delay and laches are material factors in exercising discretionary jurisdiction under Article 226, and ordinarily a writ filed after an unreasonable period must be dismissed. However, the Court noted that a pension claim is a continuing cause of action and remitted the matter to the High Court to decide the merits, limiting any relief to a maximum of three years from the date of the writ. The appeal was disposed of without costs.

Issues considered

Whether a writ petition filed after an inordinate delay can be entertained under Article 226 of the Constitution.
Whether the continuing nature of a disability pension claim bars dismissal of the writ petition on grounds of delay.
Whether the Supreme Court should remit the case to the High Court for merits despite the delay.

Legislation cited

Constitution of Indias. Article 226

Subjects

delaylacheswrit petitionArticle 226disability pensioncontinuing cause of actiondiscretionary jurisdictionremand

Judgment

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I
SHIV DASS A
v.
.....,-1' UNION OF INDIAAND ORS .

JANUARY 18, 2007

[DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND S.H. KAPADIA, JJ.] B

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Constitution of India, 1950:
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Art. 226-Delay and /aches in filing writ petition-Effect of-Held,
Court to consider dekry while exercising discretionary powers-In case of
belated approach, writ petition liable to be dismissed.
c
In 1982, appellant suffered from medical problem and was invalidated
from service. In 1983, he claimed disability pension which was rejected. He
filed writ petition in 2005, which was dismissed on the ground of delay and
!aches. Hence the present appeal. D
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Disposing of the appeal and remitting the matter to High Court to
r hear writ petition on merits, the Court

HELD: 1. Normally, in the case of belated approach writ petition has
to be dismissed. Delay or laches is one of the factors to be borne in mind E
by the High Courts when they exercise their discretionary powers under
Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950. In an appropriate case the
High Court may refuse to invoke its extraordinary powers ifthere is such
negligence or omission on the part of the applicant to assert his right as
taken in conjunction with the lapse of time and other circumstances,
causes prejudice to the opposite party. Even where fundamental right is
F
-· .,. involved the matter is still within the discretion of the Court. Of course,
the discretion has to be e~ercised judicially and reasonably.
[Para 7) [1129-E-G)

Durga Prasad v. Chief Controller of Imports and Exports and Ors., G
AIR (1970) SC 769; State of Orissa v. Arun Kumar, AIR (1976) SC 1639,
relied on.

~
f Lindsay Petroleum Company v. Pro_sper Armstrong Hurd Etc., (1874)
5 P.C. 221; The Moon Mills Ltd. v. MR. Meher, President, Industrial Court,
H
1127
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+
1128 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2007] 1 S.C.R.

A Bombay and Ors., AIR (1967) SC 1450; Maharashtra State Road Transport -\ ,....
Corporation v. Ba/want Regular Motor Service, Amravati and Ors., Affi
(1969) SC 329; State of M.P. v. Nandlal Jaiswal and Ors., AIR (1987) SC
251; K. V. Raja Lakshmiah v. State of Mysore, AIR (1967) SC 993; State
ofOrissa v. Sri Pyarimohan Samantaray, AIR (1976) SC 2617, referred to.

B 2. In the case of pension the cause of action actually continues from
month to month. That, however, cannot be a ground to overlook delay in
filing the petition. It would depend upon the fact of each case. If petition is
filed beyond a reasonable period say three years normally the Court would
reject the same or restrict the relief which could be granted to a reasonable
C period of about three years. The High Court did not examine whether on
merit appellant had a case. If on merits it would have found that there was
no scope for interference, it would have dismissed the writ petition on that
score alone. (Para 11) [1131-C-D]

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 274 of2007.
D
. From the Final Judgment and Order dated 22.8.2005 of the High Court
of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in C.W.P. No.12886/2005.

Gaurav K. Bhatnagar and Dharam Bir Raj Vohra for the Appellant.
E
R. Mohan, A.S~G. Vikas Sharma, D.S. Mabra and Anil Katiyar for the
Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
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DR. ARIJIT PASAY AT, J. : 1. Leave granted.

2. Appellant calls in question legality of the judgment rendered by a
Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing the Writ
Petition filed by the appellant on the ground that it was highly belated. It
G was noted that appellant ,was out of service in the year 1983 and the writ
petition was filed in 2005.

3. Appellant's case in a nutshell is as follows:

H 4. Appellant was enrolled in Army Medical Corps, Lucknow in
SHIVDASSv. U.O.I. [PASAYAT,J.] 1129

September, 1965. In 1982 he suffered from medical problem of weak eyesight A
and he became almost 80% disabled, despite being getting the treatment.
Therefore, he was placed under low medical category by the Medical Board.
He was relieved from the service being invalidated out of service. In 1983
appellant claimed disability pension for the 80% disability. It was rejected
by the Chief Controller of Defence Accounts (Pension), Allahabad. Appellant
claims that he had filed appeal before the appellate authority but there no
B
reply was given. Since there was no intimation regarding any order in the
appeal, he filed the writ petition in 2005. His prayer was for grant of disability
pension. The High Court dismissed the writ petition.

5. In support of the appeal, learned counsel for the appellant submitted c
that the High Court should have noted that the claim for pension provides
for continuing cause of action. As the appellant had not received any
intimation regarding the result of the appeal, he ultimately filed the writ
petition.

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6. Learned counsel for the respondents on the other hand submitted
"' r that the writ petition was highly belated. In fact, the original order itself
indicated the reason for dishonouring the claim. The appeal was dismissed
in August 1985 and due intimation was given to the appellant about
rejection of his appeal. He cannot take advantage of his own lapses and
laches. E

7. Normally, in the case of belated approach writ petition has to be
dismissed. Delay or !aches is one of the factors to be borne in mind by the
High Courts when they exercise their discretionary powers under Article 226
of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the 'Constitution'). In an
____...
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appropriate case the High Court may refuse to invoke its extraordinary
powers if there is such negligence or omission on the part of the applicant
to assert his right as taken in conjunction with the lapse of time and other
circumstances, causes prejudice to the opposite party. Even where
fundamental right is involved the matter is still within the discretion of the
Court as pointed out in Durga Prasad v. Chief Controller of Imports and G
Exports and Ors., AIR (1970) SC 769. Of course, the discretion has to be
exercised judicially and reasonably.
. )
8. What was stated in this regard by Sir Barnes Peacock in Lindsay
Petroleum Company v. Prosper Armstrong Hurd Etc., (1874) 5 P.C. 221 at H
1130 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2007] 1 S.C.R.

A page 239 was approved by this Court in The Moon Mills Ltd. v. MR. Meher,
President, Industrial Court, Bombay and Ors., AIR ( 1967) SC 1450 and
Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation v. Balwant Regular Motor
Service, Amravati and Ors., AIR (1969) SC 329, Sir Barnes had stated:

"Now the doctrine of !aches in Courts of Equity is not an arbitrary
B or technical doctrine. Where it would be practically unjust to give
a remedy either because the party has, by his conduct done that
which might fairly be regarded as equivalent to a waiver of it, or
where by his conduct and neglect he has though perhaps not
waiving that remedy, yet put the other party in a situation in which
c it would not be reasonable to place him if the remedy were
afterwards to be asserted, in either of these cases, lapse of time and
delay are most material. But in every case, if an argument against
relief, which otherwise would be just, if founded upon mere delay,
that delay of course not amounting to a bar by any statute of
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limitation, the validity of that defence must be tried upon principles
substantially equitable. Two circumstances always important in
such cases are, the length of the delay and the nature of the acts
done during the interval which might affect either party and cause
a balance of justice or injustice in taking the one course or the
other, so far as relates to the remedy."
E
9. It was stated in State of M.P. v. Nandlal Jaiswal and Ors., AIR
(1987) SC 251, that the High Court in exercise of its discretion does not
ordinarily assist the tardy and the indolent or the acquiescent and the
lethargic. If there is inordinate delay on the part of the petitioner and such
F delay is not satisfactorily explained, the High Court may decline to intervene '
-'I, -"''
and grant relief in exercise of its writ jurisdiction. It was stated that this rule
is premised on a number of factors. The High Court does not ordinarily
permit a belated resort to the extraordinary remedy because it is likely to
cause confusion and public inconvenience and bring in its train new
G injustices, and if writ jurisdiction is exercised after unreasonable delay, it
may have the effect of inflicting not only hardship and inconvenience but
also injustice on third parties. It was pointed out that when writ jurisdiction
is invoked, unexplained delay coupled with the creation of third party rights
in the meantime is an important factor which also weighs with the High Court
H in deciding whether or not to exercise such jurisdiction.
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SHIVDASSv. U.O.l. [PASAYAT,J.] 1131

_, ' I0. It has been pointed out by this Court in a number of cases that A
representations would not be adequate explanation to take care of delay.
This was first stated in K. V Raja Lakshmiah v. State of Mysore, AIR ( 1967)
SC 993. There is a limit to the time which can be considered reasonable for
making representations and if the Government had turned down one
representation the making of another representation on similar lines will not
explain the delay. In State of Orissa v. Sri Pyarimohan Samantaray, AIR
B
(1976) SC 2617 making of repeated representations was not regarded as
satisfactory explanation of the delay. In that case the petition had been
dismissed for delay alone. (See State of Orissa v. Arun Kumar, AIR (1976)
SC 1639 also.
c
11. In the case of pension the cause of action actually continues from
month to month. That, however, cannot be a ground to overlook delay in
filing the petition. It would depend upon the fact of each case. If petition
is filed beyond a reasonable period say three years normally the Court would
reject the same or restrict the relief which could be granted to a reasonable D
period of about three years. The High Court did not examine whether on
merit appellant had a case. If on merits it would have found that there was
no scope for interference, it would have dismissed the writ petition on that
score alone.

12. In the peculiar circumstances, we remit the matter to the High Court E
to hear the writ petition on merits. If it is found that the claim for disability
pension is sustainable in law, then it would mould the relief but in no event
grant any relief for a period exceeding three years from the date of
presentation of the writ petition. We make it clear that we have not
expressed any opinion on the merits as to whether appellant's claim for F
disability pension is maintainable or not. If it is sans merit, the High Court
naturally would dismiss the writ petition.

13. The appeal is disposed of accordingly without any order as to
costs.
G
D.G. Appeal disposed of.