Ammukutty Amma vs The State of Kerala and Others

V.S. Malimath, C.J.—Steps for serving some of the Respondents to whom service could not be effected, for one reason or the other were not taken though the office had duly notified about the defects. As there was no compliance, the matter was posted before the Deputy Registrar on 4th February 1988 and none appeared on behalf of the Appellant. The Deputy Registrar was therefore helpless and has noted the absence of the counsel and posted the matter before this Bench.

It is obvious that the rules have been framed to ensure that trivial matters are not brought before the Court to avoid unnecessary spending of precious time of the Court. It is the duty of the counsel/party to note the defects pointed out and take appropriate steps promptly to comply with the same. When there is no compliance and the matter is posted before the Deputy Registrar it is their duty to appear before the Deputy Registrar and to take necessary steps. But if none comply with the notice within time and do not appear before the Deputy Registrar when the matter is posted before him, he is constrained to post the matter for orders before the Court. This results in unnecessary spending of precious time of Court. We would therefore like to make it known that if there is no due compliance with the relevant rules in this behalf and prompt steps are not taken and there are no good grounds for the same, the normal rule to be followed in such cases is to dismiss the appeal/petition for non-prosecution as against the concerned parties. However, by way of indulgence we grant one weeks time finally in this case for due compliance.

Let a copy of this order be given to the Appellant''s counsel.