The Supreme Court of India has overturned a Karnataka High Court order that had previously condoned a nearly 11-year, or 3,966-day, delay by the Karnataka Housing Board in filing a second appeal. The apex court ruled that government departments cannot invoke bureaucratic inertia to justify protracted litigation delays, asserting that each day of delay must be adequately explained. It emphasized that the acceptability of the explanation, rather than the duration of the delay, is the decisive factor, and that established legal procedures cannot be disregarded to accommodate state indifference. As a result of this ruling, the Supreme Court imposed an additional cost of Rs 25,000 on the Housing Board, payable to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, supplementing the Rs 25,000 already levied by the High Court.
Source: www.news18.com