The Supreme Court of India has directed all State governments to hold their officers accountable for delays in filing appeals before the court. The bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan emphasized that such delays, often caused by the failure of State officers to communicate decisions to higher authorities in a timely manner, were unacceptable and detrimental to the public interest.
The Court was hearing an appeal by the State of Madhya Pradesh challenging a decision by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had refused to condone a delay of 1,788 days in filing a second appeal. The delay stemmed from a series of lapses, including the failure of the Collector to inform the principal secretary promptly and a delay in receiving approval from the Law Department. These lapses resulted in valuable government land being put at risk and a considerable loss to the State’s exchequer.
The Court observed that while the government’s systematic approach to legal issues should have ensured timely filing, “due to the fault on the part of the officials in merely communicating the information on time, huge revenue loss will be caused to the Government exchequer.”
The Supreme Court issued a stern directive to all States to “streamline the machinery touching the legal issues, offering legal opinion, filing of cases before the Tribunal / Courts, etc.” The Court also mandated that accountability be fixed on the officers responsible for delays, and penalties should be imposed on them based on the loss caused to the government.
“We direct the State to streamline the machinery touching the legal issues, offering legal opinion, filing of cases before the Tribunal / Courts, etc., fix the responsibility on the officer(s) concerned, and penalize the officer(s), who is/are responsible for delay, deviation, lapses, etc., if any, to the value of the loss caused to the Government,” the Court stated in its November 29 order.
The Court further emphasized the importance of this directive being followed scrupulously by all States. In this specific case, the Supreme Court imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh on the State of Madhya Pradesh for its failure to explain the delay adequately.
