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Supreme Court Of India
Hon'ble Judge(s): Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, Sudhanshu Dhulia , JJ
D.O.D : 31/01/2023
Appeal Dismissed
(A) Limitation Act (15 of 1877) , S.5— Civil P.C. (5 of 1908) , S.100, S.149— Court-fees Act (7 of 1870) , S.4— Condonation of delay - Sufficient cause - Delay of 254 days in filing first appeal - Reason given for delay was paucity of funds to pay court fees - Court fees were paid but belatedly - Appellant was affluent businessman and hotelier - Even assuming that at relevant point of time, appellant did not have funds, he could have filed appeal deficient in court fees and paid court fees within time granted by court under applicable provisions of law - Insufficiency of funds was not sufficient cause for condonation of delay, under facts and circumstance of case - Rejection of application for condonation of delay, proper.
AIR 1971 SC 1374-Relied on(Para9)
(B) Specific Relief Act (47 of 1963) , S.22— Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act (8 of 1974) , S.118, S.2(2)— Specific performance of agreement to sell - Dismissal of suit for - Challenge against - Agreement originally entered into between a company and an agriculturist for purchase of land - Admittedly company was not agriculturist - A non-agriculturist could purchase land in state of Himachal Pradesh only after obtaining permission from State u/S. 118 of Act of 1974 - Company made assignment in favour of plaintiff agriculturist when it could not obtain such permission - Assignment was not valid as there was no prior consent or approval of the seller before the assignment - Further, merely assigning rights to agriculturist, who will be using land for purpose other than agriculture, would defeat purpose of enactment - Dismissal of suit proper.