The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticized the MP Government for delay of 588 days in filing the appeal and remarked that the legal department of MP Government should revamp itself following its inability to make appeals in the reasonable time. The court said that such excuses have been brought up earlier as well and are no longer admissible.
It was further observed:
“the Law Department took almost about 17 months’ time to decide whether the SLP had to be filed or not. What greater certificate of incompetence would there be for the legal Department!”.
For the delay in the process of filing the appeal, the Supreme Court imposed costs worth Rs. 35000 on the State Government and expressed concern over the matter citing wastage of judicial time and casual wording of the Special Leave Petition.
The bench led by Hon’ble Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul remarked that the conduct of the State Government was “incorrigible”. The Special Leave Petition was dismissed for being time barred as per the terms.
The order also stated that the court might be compelled to initiate contempt proceedings against the Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh for non-compliance with the time mentioned.
