Kisan Institute Of Technology @APPELLANT@Hash Hans Raj

Dhiraj Singh Thakur, J

The present applications have been filed seeking condonation of delay in filing the appeals against the judgment and award dated 09.08.2012 passed by the J&K State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Jammu (for short the State Commission) in Complaint Nos. 3224 of 2010 and 3225 of 2010 and also against the order dated 12.02.2015, whereby the applications for setting aside the ex-parte Judgment / Award filed by the applicant-appellant were dismissed.

These appeals have been preferred in this Court on 21.09.2017. The grounds urged in the applications as also during the course of arguments for seeking condonation of delay in filing the appeals are that the counsel engaged by the applicant-appellant suffered from liver Serosis and finally expired on 25.03.2016. It was also urged that since the award dated 09.08.2012 passed by the State Commission was an ex parte award,  therefore, the applications for setting aside the said ex parte award was preferred before the State Commission on 22.01.2014, which also was dismissed on 12.02.2015.

With a view to further explain the delay, it was stated that the applicant-appellant had also filed the objections to the execution of the award passed by the State Commission which kept pending for a considerable period of time on account of non availability of the Coram in the State Commission and finally came to be decided on 17.11.2017. It is also urged that it was during the pendency of the execution proceedings that the present appeals have been preferred.

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

Clearly ex parte award was passed by the State Commission on 09.08.2012. Since the applications for setting aside the ex parte award was filed on 22.01.2014, nothing could have prevented the applicant from filing the appeals even on the said date before this Court. However, the applicant chose not to do so. Even after the dismissal of their applications on 12.02.2015 for setting aside ex parte award, the applicant choose to remain silent and depended upon the objections filed before the executing court in the execution proceedings.

On a perusal of the award impugned, it appears that the same was passed in favour of the complainants-non applicants herein who are students of the Institute of the applicant and in those circumstances, the State Commission finding merit in the complaints had awarded an amount of Rs. 1,55,000/-.

Without going into the merits of the case, we feel that the applicant has failed to make out sufficient cause for seeking condonation of delay in the present proceedings.

For the reasons stated above, applications i.e. CONC Nos. 203/2017 and 205/2017 are found to be without any merit and are, accordingly, dismissed.

Consequently, the proposed appeals also stand dismissed.