Liberal View Is To Be Adopted In Matters Of Condonation Of Delay, SC Tells NCDRC [Read Order]

The Supreme Court has reiterated that, in matter of condonation of delay, the Consumer Commission should take liberal view.

The bench comprising Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre and Justice Indu Malhotra set aside an order of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission which had refused to condone a delay of 207 days in filing the revision petition before it.

Referring to an old Supreme Court judgment in Ramlal vs. Rewa Coalfields Ltd., the commission had held that the petitioner had not properly explained the delay and thus no case is made out to condone the delay.

Disapproving this view, the Apex Court bench, in Hemlata Verma vs. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd said:

We may consider it apposite to observe that the Commission while declining to condone the delay placed reliance on the decision of this Court in Ramlal vs. Rewa Coalfields Ltd., AIR 1962 SC 361. However, the later decision of this Court in Collector, Land Acquisition, Anantnag & Anr. vs. Mst. Katiji & Ors., (1987) 2 SCC 107 has held that in matter of condonation of delay, the Court should take liberal view. In our view, the Commission should have, therefore, taken note of subsequent decisions of this Court on the issue of condonation of delay. 

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